


Now Hiring

by alittlestitious



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-23
Updated: 2018-01-13
Packaged: 2018-11-17 22:38:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 30,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11278212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alittlestitious/pseuds/alittlestitious
Summary: Penny has one mission this year: To get her mother a girlfriend. Tobin wouldn't know what hit her.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> All mistakes are mine. Feel free to tell me if there are any glaring mistakes. I tried to proofread, but you know what they say, your brain tricks you.

“Hey, Aunt Kelley, I have an important question,” Penny says to her as she looks up at her Aunt.

 

“Yeah, what’s up, sweetie?” Kelley asks as she grips her hand tighter as they navigate them around the mall against the horde of shoppers. She agreed to take the tiny tot while Tobin was at practice.

 

“How come momma doesn’t have a girlfriend?” Penny asks.

 

Kelley shrugs. “Well, she’s too busy to find a girlfriend right now, Pen.”

 

Penny nods but doesn’t reply as she lets herself be lead. Her mind already filling in the blanks as to _why_ her mother was too busy to find a girlfriend. Her Aunt Kelley says it’s because she’s busy. Penny feels like it’s because she’s getting in the way of her mother getting a girlfriend.  In her mind, she steels herself to make it her mission to find her mother a girlfriend.

 

“Alright, buddy, we got the present for Emily,” Kelley tells her. “Wanna go get ice cream?”

 

Penny nods her head vigorously in excitement before taking the lead and dragging Kelley to their favorite ice cream shop. Kelley grabs her a small cup of ice cream, limiting her to one scoop while she gets a milkshake. Kelley lets her go to the mall playground to burn off her limited energy, running around with the little one.

-

-

-

“Hey, babe,” Emily says as she walks in, dropping her gym bag. “Where’s one cent?”

 

“In the living room,” Kelley says. “She says she has an important document to work on.”

 

Emily laughs as she sits next to her. “What could she be working on? She’s six.”

 

Kelley shrugs. “Eh, I just let her be.”

 

“So guess what I have in the bag?” Emily says, shaking the bag.

 

“What?” Kelley asks.

 

“Dude, I said guess,” Emily counters, still shaking the bag.

 

“Your hopes and dreams of winning a championship?” Kelley asks, cheekily.

 

Emily rolls her eyes as she pushes at her girlfriend. “Try again, girlfriend. And this time don’t make me wanna throttle you.”

 

“Ooh, kinky,” Kelley says, her eyebrows going up and down suggestively.

 

“There’s a 6-year-old in the living room,” Emily points out as she takes out whatever is in the bag. “So I have the Good Dinosaur.”

 

“Ooh nice,” Kelley nods. “Trying to win the heart of Penny huh?”

 

“I don’t have to. I’m already her favorite aunt,” Emily says with an air of confidence.

 

“Uh, I gave her ice cream and bought her some new jerseys,” Kelley says. “All you’re giving her is a Pixar movie that no one wanted to see.”

 

Emily gasps. “Hey! Good Dinosaur is a good a movie and she’s on a dinosaur kick lately so, we’ll see who wins.”

 

“Fine,” Kelley says, narrowing her eyes. “Let’s go see what One Cent says.” Kelley gestures ahead of her. “After you, Madam.”

 

“Thank you!” Emily says as she saunters to the living room, head held high. She stops causing Kelley to run into her back. She can feel her face melting at the cuteness in front of her. “Aww,” she whispers.

 

  
“Why are you whispering?” Kelley asks as she lightly pushes her girlfriend to the side.

 

Penny had her head down over a stack of papers, her arms on her sides hanging limply, her hands clutching crayons. Her face was face down on the glass, nose pressed tightly against it. Emily is worried that that might cut off her breathing.

 

“Should we turn her over?” Emily asks worriedly. “I’m scared that she’s going to suffocate.”

 

“We should wake her up,” Kelley says as she moves forward. “Tobin will be so mad if she can’t get One Cent to sleep.”

 

Emily pouts. “Not fair. Then she won’t tell us who the best aunt is.”

 

Kelley smiles. “There’s always tomorrow.”

-

-

-

Penny goes up to her mother, scrambling to get on her lap. She sits on her knees so that she can grab her mother’s face between her hands, squeezing her cheeks. “Hi, momma,” Penny  says.

 

Tobin laughs, making a face at her daughter. “Hi, Pen.”

 

“Momma, I love you,” she says, staring straight at her mother’s honey eyes.

 

“I love you too, Pen,” Tobin says, confused as she grabs her daughter’s hand off her cheeks. “What’s going on with you, kid?”

 

“I think you’re lonely,” Penny states as she leans back. Immediately, Tobin puts her arms around her, making sure she doesn’t fall over.

 

“What makes you say so?” Tobin asks, confused. 

 

“Because you don’t have anyone!” Penny says, throwing up her hands in exasperation, perilously rocking. Tobin tightens her hold on her.  “Aunt Alex has Uncle Serv, Aunt Allie has Uncle Bati, Aunt Lauren has Uncle Jrue, Aunt Amy has Uncle Adam and you don’t have anyone!”

 

Tobin grabs her around the waist and starts tickling the little girl. Her love life is so pathetic even her daughter is noticing the lack of another figure in her life. She shakes off the mortification and starts tickling her sides, using it to distract her. “I have you!”

 

“Momma, stop,” Penny gasps as she pushes her mother’s hands away. “Momma!” She jumps off her lap. “Momma, this is a serious matter.”

 

Tobin nods, amusement dancing in her eyes. “Okay, I’m putting my serious face on.” She puts making her mouth as a straight as possible, her face as neutral as possible, similar to her game face whenever she plays.

 

Penny nods. “Wait here!”

 

Tobin watches as she goes up the stairs of their house, stopping the urge to scream at her daughter not to run. Penny comes down the stairs, clutching a stack of paper in her little hands. She stands in front of Tobin, switching the stack to one hand so she can use her other hand to push her hair away from her face.

 

“I made applications!” Penny says excitedly, showing her the stack.

 

“Applications for what?” Tobin asks the tiny tot.

 

Penny gives her a bright smile, her teeth showing. “For your future girlfriend!’

 

If Tobin was drinking some kind of liquid, she would’ve choked on it. Penny clambers next to Tobin, pushing the small stack of paper in her hands. Tobin can see how proud Penny is of her idea and Tobin humors her. “Did you give anyone the application?”

 

“Uh-huh,” Penny nods as she works through her stack. She grabs one and gives it to Tobin. “I made Aunt Kelley fill one out.”

 

Tobin laughs. “Baby, Aunt Kelley has a girlfriend.”

 

“Oh I know,” Penny says, nonchalantly. “I made Aunt Emily fill one out too.”

 

“Well that’s not how relationships work, Pen,” Tobin says. “I mean they can work like that, but I don’t think this one can work like that.”

 

Penny’s brows furrow. “What do you mean? You guys are best friends! You should all be married to each other! Aunt Alex says there’s nothing better than marrying your best friend.”

 

Tobin runs her fingers through Penny’s red hair. “That’s right but Emily and Kelley love each other and I don’t think I fit in there.”

 

“Oh,” Penny says, dejectedly. She sighs. “Okay, momma. I’m going to find another candidate.”

 

“How about I keep the applications?” Tobin bargains. She really didn't want her daughter handing out an application to be her girlfriend to random strangers, of all things.

 

“No,” Penny cries as she grabs the applications that she worked so hard on from her mother’s hands. “I worked really hard on these, momma.”

 

Tobin sighs. She can always grab them later when Penny was sleeping. “Okay, you can keep your applications.”

 

“Thank you!” Penny replies as she hugs her mother before jumping off the couch. “I’m going to put this away, momma!”

 

“Alright, little lady,” Tobin replies with a little drawl, making Penny giggle as she runs to her room. Tobin stops the urge to tell her to not run, knowing that nothing can stop her once she goes in full force. _So much like her mother,_ Tobin thinks fondly as she turns back to the TV to continue to watch _The Good Dinosaur_ that Emily gave her daughter.

 

Penny comes back into the room, holding the stuffed owl she got from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter just a week ago. Tobin isn’t sure why the little girl fell in love with the owls at the store. To be honest, they looked so creepy to her, but Penny loved them for some reason.

 

“It looks like a grandpa,” Penny had giggled when Tobin asks her why she wanted to buy the frightening looking thing.

 

Penny sits back down on Tobin’s lap, tucking her head underneath her chin, her eyes already glued to _The Good Dinosaur._ Tobin wraps her arms around the redhead and puts her chin on her head, cuddling the little girl closer as they got back to their movie.

-

-

-

 “Press!” Kelley screams as she moves her arms up and down, trying to get her attention.  “Press, I’m right here!”

 

Christen sees the flailing arms and starts walking towards her friend, dragging her suitcase behind her. “Hey, Kell,” Christen says as she wraps her arms around her freckled friend.

 

Kelley grabs Christen’s suitcase. “C’mon, let’s go,” she says as she moves forward, not even caring if Christen was following her.

 

“Slow down, KO,” Christen says to her friend.

 

“I can’t. I’m a bad friend,” Kelley says over her shoulder as she power walks. “I left Tobin’s kid in the car because she was napping and I didn’t want to wake her up.”

 

Christen felt her world stop and white noise rush to her ears.

 

“Christen, keep up!” Kelley calls.

 

Christen shook the disorientation off and catches up to Kelley. “Tobin’s kid?”

 

Kelley gives her a tight smile, realizing her slip. “Yeah, c'mon.”

 

“Oh,” Christen says, unsure of how to respond.

 

Kelley stops in front of her car and pops the trunk, stuffing Christen’s bag in it. Christen puts her backpack in as well before going to the passenger seat. She looks at the back and sure enough, there was a little girl, no older than 8, wearing yellow rain boots with rainbows all over them as well as a yellow raincoat, despite there being no rain. Her long auburn, almost bronze, hair was pulled into two braids, one hand was wrapped around it while the other was clutching an owl. She tries to find any features of Tobin on the sleeping little girl, but can find none.

 

“That’s One Cent,” Kelley murmurs as she looks at Penny from rear view mirror.

 

“Her name is One Cent?” Christen asks, disbelief in her tone.

 

“Well we call her Penny,” Kelley said. “And it kinda just evolved from there.”

 

“I thought Tobin would actually name her daughter One Cent.”

 

“Tobin can be oblivious, but not cruel, Chris,” Kelley says. “She’ll never name a kid that.”

 

“That’s true,” Christen replies, nodding her head. She’s still trying to wrap her mind around the fact that Tobin had a kid, specifically when she got a kid. They've only broken up 3 years ago and this kid was definitely not under three years old.

 

“I’m glad you’re back, Chris,” Kelley says. “We’ll be wreaking havoc against teams in no time!”

-

-

-

 

Penny opens her eyes, her head lolling groggily as she looks around. She becomes more alert when she can hear a new voice talking to her Aunt Kelley. She looks at the hair of the woman curiously, trying to see how she looks like.

 

“Well, looks like someone is awake,” Kelley sing-songs as her eyes caught on a moving Penny from the rearview mirror. “Did you have a good nap, Pen?”

 

“Uh-huh,” Penny says as she shifted in her seat, realizing there was a more pressing matter than the new woman that was in the car. “Aunt Kelley, I need to pee.”

 

“Whoops,” Kelley says as she swerves to go to the right lane, ignoring the honks. She pulls into Chipotle. “I guess we can have an early dinner.” She parks the car and helps Penny out of her car seat.

 

“Aunt Kelley, my backpack!” Penny shrieks.

 

“Do you really need your backpack?” Kelley asks.

 

“Yes!” Penny says, adamantly as she starts to do her pee-pee dance, signaling that she really had to go.

 

“Press, can you grab her backpack?” Kelley asks as she carries Penny into the store, not waiting for Christen’s answer.

 

Christen grabs it and goes to the line to order for them before she realizes she doesn’t know what Kelley want nor does she know what the little girl wants.  She sits at one of the tables, scrolling through her phone. Before she knows it, she was on Kelley’s Facebook profile, looking at pictures of Penny and Tobin, trying to pinpoint when the little girl appeared in her life.

 

“One Cent let all her pee out,” Kelley says as she lets Penny climb into the seat.

 

“Ew, Aunt Kelley, that’s gross,” Penny says to Kelley.

 

“Yeah, Kell, we’re about to eat,” Christen says.

 

Penny looks at the new woman curiously, her eyes assessing Christen with such intensity for a little girl that she feels a little bit uncomfortable. “You’re really pretty,” Penny compliments.

 

Christen’s cheeks redden. “Thank you,” she says to Penny.

 

Penny gives her a bright smile.

 

“Alright, Pen, stop trying to charm your Aunt Christen,” Kelley says, laughing at Christen’s reaction. “I’ll go order for us. Text me your order, Chris.”

 

Christen almost begs Kelley not to leave her alone with the little girl, but Kelley was already walking towards the line. She turns back to the little girl, who was still staring at her, a little less intense this time around.

 

“Hi,” Penny chirps.

 

“Uh, hello,” Christen says.

 

“Can I have my backpack, please?”

 

“Oh right,” Christen says as she grabs the small turquoise backpack and hands it over to the little girl.

 

“Thank you!” Penny says as she rummages through her backpack trying to find the applications that she made. But before she can find them, Kelley puts their food in front of them, takes her backpack, and stashes it underneath the table, much to Penny’s displeasure.

 

“Time to eat, OC,” Kelley says as she puts the quesadilla in front of Penny.  She waits until Penny starts eating her food before she turns to Christen. “So, you excited to be back?”

 

Christen tears her eyes off the little girl, who was just going after the quesadilla with such gusto, not caring if the cheese drips down her fingers. Similar to the way Tobin does when she’s famished. She might not see Tobin in the little girl’s looks, but her mannerisms are definitely there.

 

“Yeah,” Christen says, shrugging. “It’s good to be back in this league. And I missed all of you guys.”

 

“Well it’s good to have you back,” Kelley says. “We’ll be kicking butts and taking names in no time.”

 

“Yeah, I can’t wait to watch you guys kick the Thorns’ ass,” Christen says, making Penny giggle. Christen cringes immediately realizing that she cursed in front of a kid, which usually is a big no-no. “Oops, sorry.”

 

“She’s heard worse,” Kelley assures her.

 

“That’s momma’s team!” Penny says as sips on her Powerade. “Thorns! Thorns! Thorns! Thorns!”

 

“Alright, Penhead,” Kelley says. “That is your mom’s team. But what's the best team?”

 

“Sunrise!” Penny yells out, putting her hands up, enthusiastically.

 

“That’s right,” Kelley says pulling out a five dollar bill and giving it to the little girl. Christen laughs at the exchange, shaking her head at her friend’s antics.

 

“Are you training her to say that?” Christen asks, amused.

 

“Oh yeah,” Kelley says as she eats a chip. “It’ll drive Tobin crazy.” She looks down at her food to see that Penny was done eating and was now rummaging through her backpack. “You done?” Kelley asked as she looked at Christen’s half-eaten bowl.

 

“Yeah,” Christen says as she stands up.

 

“Let’s go then.”

-

-

-

 

“Hey, can I ask you for a favor?” Kelley asks, her voice was extra sugary, putting Christen immediately on guard.

 

“I haven’t even been back 24 hours and you’re already asking for a favor?” Christen teases.

 

Kelley smiles. “So I have to go to the grocery store, can I leave One Cent with you?”

 

“Uh,” Christen stutters as she looks at the little girl who was outside throwing leaves in the air and at Brooklyn.  “I don’t know, Kell.”

 

“I won’t be gone for more than an hour,” Kelley promises. “Please? I promised Emily, I was going to cook her her favorite meal!”

 

“Yeah,” Christen sighs.

 

“Thank you!” Kelley says, giving Christen a quick hug.

 

She goes to the backyard and Christen watches as Kelley crouches to Penny’s level, saying something to her before they both start walking back into the house. Penny runs ahead of Kelley, her hair covered with leaves.

 

“I’ll be back in an hour,” Kelley tells them. “Have fun you two!”

 

Christen hears the door slam, but her eyes never leave the little girl’s as she starts climbing on the stool, partly out of curiosity and also out of fear that she might fall. Christen wanted to go over to her and help her up, but she seemed determined to go up the stairs herself.

 

“Hi!” Penny chirps as she gives Christen a big smile. “Aunt Kelley says your name is Christen.”

 

“Uh, yeah,” Christen says. “Christen...Press.”

 

“That’s a cool name, Christen Press,” Penny says. “Do you like dogs?”

 

“I love dogs,” Christen replies. “I had two, but they live with my parents now.”

 

“Oh,” Penny says. Her ideal girlfriend for her mom would have dogs. So while her mom and her girlfriend spend time with each other, she can play with the dogs. “Do you have any other pets?”

 

“A fish?”

 

“Are you asking me or are you telling me?”

 

“Telling you,” Christen says, decisively. “Definitely telling you.”

 

Penny’s nose wrinkles. “Fishes are lame.”

 

“Sir Buttersworth is very smart,” Christen defends. “He can do tricks.”

 

Penny’s eyes light up. “Can he like roll over and like jump and stuff?”

 

“Well he can go through his hoops,” Christen boasts. “And-” she stops for added effect, to add a little bit more mystery. She waits for the little girl to lean in, “-he can play soccer.”

 

“NO WAY!” Penny gasps. It’s official. Christen Press was the coolest in her eyes. She has a soccer playing fish!

 

“Yeah,” Christen says, giggling at her reaction.  

 

“That is so cool!” Penny says. Her mind was made up. Christen Press would be the perfect candidate to be her mother’s girlfriend. She pushes against the stool as she climbs down.

 

“Wait, where are you going?” Christen calls after the little girl, apprehensively. She didn’t want to let the little girl out of her sight in case something else happen. “Penny?”

 

Penny comes back clutching her backpack. She takes out a small stack of paper and hands it to Christen. “Christen, can you fill this out?”

 

“What is it?” Christen asks, confused. She’s pretty sure if it’s school-related, she shouldn’t be filling anything out.

 

“It’s an application,” Penny says, nonchalantly as she produces a sparkly green pen with little tufts of feathers at the end. She hands that to Christen as well.

 

“Uh, for what?” Christen asks, finally looking down at the paper.

 

Penny gives her a wide smile. “To be my momma’s girlfriend!”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm overwhelmed at how much you guys like this story. Thank you for all the kudos and all the comments! I want you guys to know I read each and every one of them. This chapter is a little short. I hope you enjoy it!

Christen looks down at the application then to Penny’s expectant face. Her green eyes were lit up as she gives Christen a wide smile, waiting for to start filling out the paper.

 

As if sensing her nervousness, Penny pats Christen’s hand and slides down the stool. “I’ll give you a moment to fill it out. I’ll be over there.” She points to the living room and gives Christen a thumbs up. “I’ll be watching The Good Dinosaur.”

 

Christen huffs out a laugh and nods. She watches as the little girl turns on the TV, fiddles with the remote before she runs back to Christen, the remote still in her hand. She hands it to her.

 

“I don’t know how to work the TV,” she sheepishly says.

 

Christen laughs. “Good thing I am an expert then!” She follows Penny to Kelley’s TV. “You really like this movie, huh?”

 

Penny nods. “Yeah huh! But my favorite movie of all times is Harry Potters!”

 

Christen smiles. She remembers having to marathon Harry Potter herself when she was dating Tobin. So much so that she actually read the books.

 

“Momma and I went to Harry Potter World!” Penny exclaims. “It was so awesome! I got a wand, and a owl, and I drank butterbeer! It’s not real beer, but I pretended to be drunk!”

 

“Oh that sounds like it was really fun,” Christen says as she finally gets the DVD working. “You didn’t go to Jurassic Park?”

 

Penny makes a face, her tongue sticking out. She shakes her head in disapproval. “That ride was scary!”

 

“Yeah,” Christen agrees. “But the dinosaurs were cool huh?”  


At the mention of dinosaurs, Penny starts off in a tangent about dinosaurs complete with grand hand gestures, mimicking, and enthusiasm that Christen didn’t think was possible. Instead of watching the movie, Christen got Penny talking about anything and everything her little heart desired. Enough so that Penny didn’t even ask about her application. Up until Kelley comes back with her arms laden with groceries and had to drop off Penny at their hotel to pick up Emily.

 

Penny runs up to Christen and throws her little body at her, wrapping her arms around her. “Bye, Christen Press! Don’t forget to fill out the application!”

 

“Bye, Penny,” Christen says as she rubs her back. “I’ll see you soon, okay?”

 

“Okay!”

 

“C’mon, One Cent! We don’t want your momma getting mad,” Kelley calls as she waits by the door. Penny’s backpack already slung over her shoulder. Penny gives Christen one last hug before running ahead of Kelley to her car, screaming she wants to ride shotgun even though her car seat was already in the back.

-

-

-

Christen breathes a sigh of relief when she hears the door slam shut taking with it Penny’s big bubbly personality. Don’t get her wrong, the little girl was absolutely delightful and charming, but just hanging out with her reminds her of what she could’ve had with Tobin and it hurt.

 

She goes back to the kitchen counter to grab the little girl’s “application” to see what was on it. At the top written in surprisingly legible letters was asking for her full name and her birthday. Although Penny wrote Cake Day with a picture of a birthday cake and candles. Then there were a couple of yes and no questions.

 

_Do you like dogs_

_Do you have any dogs_

_Do you have any other pets_

_Do you like kids_

_Do you want to have another kid_

_Do you like soccer (must like soccer, this is very important)_

 

When she got to the last question, Christen couldn’t help but laugh and melt at the sheer dedication Penny has to her mother’s happiness.

 

_In one page or less, please tell me how you would make my mother happy._

-

-

-

“Okay, so don’t get mad at me,” Kelley starts as soon as Tobin opens the door to their hotel room. She had a sleeping Penny in her arms, the owl between the two of them to prevent it from falling. Penny had fallen asleep on the ride over as usual.

 

“Why would I get mad at you?” Tobin asks as Kelley transfers the little girl to her arms.

 

“So I completely forgot that I was supposed to pick up Christen at the airport today,” Kelley says.

 

“Okay,” Tobin drawls out the word, unsure as to why she should react negatively to what she just said. “I mean as long as you didn’t put Penny in danger I don’t see why I should be upset.”

 

Tobin steps back from the door to allow Kelley in. She goes to the full bed and lays Penny on the bed, taking off her shoes and sweater. She goes to their suitcase and pulls out her pajamas.

 

“Oh,” Kelley says. “Huh, I thought you would be a little more panicky than this now that you heard Christen is in town.”

 

Tobin shrugs, trying to show that the news didn’t affect her. Although she didn’t want to divulge to Kelley that she already had her fair share of induced panic when she heard the transfer rumors that Christen Press was coming back to town. “I mean I’m bound to see her, Kelley. This league isn’t exactly small.”

 

“Yeah, I just wanted to warn you, she’ll be at the game tomorrow,” Kelley says. “I don’t exactly know what went down between you two and if you’re on good terms.”

 

“It’s fine, Kell,” Tobin says as she tucks Penny underneath the sheets. “We’re not on speaking terms, but we don't hate each other either.” She shrugs.

 

Kelley nods. She can’t wipe the worried look on her face even if Tobin tells her to drop the look. “I can’t! You guys are my best friends. One day you guys are going out and everything was swell and then next thing we know, Chris is on her way to Germany and-”

 

“Kelley,” Tobin interrupts softly, still fussing over Penny, not really wanting to meet Kelley’s pitiful eyes.  “Not now.”

 

Kelley sighs. “Okay. I guess I’ll see you at the game tomorrow?”

 

Tobin nods and gives her a teasing smile. “My team is so gonna kick your ass.”

 

“In your dreams, Tobs,” Kelley teases before giving her a hug goodbye.

 

Tobin shuffles underneath the bed, turning on her side so she can watch Penny like she always does when she’s feeling a bit anxious. There’s always calming watching a child sleep peacefully. She couldn’t fathom before how women always say that they would die for their child or do anything for their child as long as they were safe and happy. She couldn’t fathom it until she had Penny. Even if the circumstances of how she got Penny was less than ideal, she wouldn’t trade it for the world.

-

-

-

Christen opted to sit at the family and friends section instead of sitting up in a private box with the rest of the players that were not dressing for this preseason game. She sits with Kelly’s sister and her husband, talking idly when she feels small arms grab onto her arm. She looks to her side to see wide green eyes filled with excitement staring at her.

 

“Hi, Christen Press!” Penny yells right into her eardrums, making her flinch.

 

“Hi, Penny,” Christen says with a smile.

 

Penny turns to her babysitter and with as much authority she can muster in her voice tells her, “Leslie, I think I’m going to sit with Christen.”

 

“I’m supposed to watch you, Penny,” Leslie says.

 

“Yeah, but I know Christen. She can watch me,” Penny says, turning her eyes to Christen. She made her eyes impossibly big, begging to be able to sit with her.

 

“Penny, I’m sure Ms. Christen wants to watch the game,” Leslie says, carefully unlatching the little girl’s hands from her arm.

 

“Oh, it’s fine,” Christen interrupts. “She can sit with me.”

 

“Are you sure?” Leslie asks.

 

Christen nods. “Yeah, it’s no problem. I hear Penny hear is a really good commentator.”

 

Penny nods her head so fast, she almost looks like a blur, “I am!”

 

Leslie sighs. “Okay. I’ll be sitting over there if you guys need anything.”

 

Christen nods to her before helping Penny sit next to her. Penny brushes off her help and sits on the chair by herself before looking up at Christen. Christen really wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do, but she praised the little girl anyway because it seemed like that was the right thing to do.

 

“Did you finish the application, Christen Press?” Penny asks, getting right to the point.

 

“Penny just call me Christen,” Christen says, laughing at how she has to use her full name.

 

“Yeah, but you’re the Christen Press,” Penny says. “Momma says you’re the best forward in the _world_ , but don’t tell Mal or Aunt Alex or Aunt Kelley because sometimes she plays forward.”

 

“Well, I don’t know about the world,” Christen shrugs. “But I’m certainly pretty good. Do you play soccer too?”

 

Penny nods. “Yeah huh! I play when we’re in Portland!”

 

“Are you good?”

 

“Of course I am! My mom’s Tobin Heath!” Penny says as if that one phrased explained everything. And in a way it really did.

 

They hear the whistle blow and their attention focuses on the game. Christen points out a couple of things to Penny and gets a grunt in return from the little girl, a weird contrast from the bubbly little girl just minutes ago. She tries to look for Tobin on the field, trying to find the lanky midfielder or the number 17 on the field, but she couldn’t. The first half ends with no one scoring even though Sunrise had a few shots on goal.

 

“They’re not playing very well,” Penny mutters before turning to Christen again. “You never answered my question, Christen Press.”

 

“I’m still working on it,” Christen tells Penny, not lying but not exactly telling the truth either. “You have a lot of demands, Penny-girl.”

 

Penny shrugs, her eyes downcast as she picks on her Thorns jersey. “I want my momma to be happy.”

 

Christen smiles. “I can’t imagine her not being happy when she’s with you.”

 

“That’s what she says too,” Penny says.

 

“See? Why would your momma lie about that?”

 

“Adults lie a lot about things, Christen Press,” Penny says. “Like the tooth fairy. I saw Aunt Lauren put a dollar under Jrue’s pillow, but Aunt Lauren said it was from the tooth fairy.”

 

“You think your mom is lying about being happy?”

 

“I think she can be happier,” Penny states, her voice held much meaning and for a moment Christen forgets that she was talking to a six-year-old. Until Penny stands on her knees and points excitedly at the field. “Look! There’s Momma!”

 

Christen’s head moves so fast she thought she might’ve given herself a whiplash. She was expecting to see Tobin in her full soccer kit, but instead, she sees Tobin wearing a Thorn’s staff shirt and jeans, a camera slung around her neck.

 

“HI MOMMA!” Penny screams, jumping up and down trying to get her attention. “MOMMA!”

 

Tobin stops and turns around, her eyes scanning the crowd until it rests on Penny, who was still jumping up and down. Even from where they were sitting, Christen can see the corners of her eyes wrinkling at spotting her rambunctious six-year-old. Then her eyes drift over to Christen.

For the first time in three years, their eyes met and all Christen can hear are those stupid cliched quotes where time stops and all you can see is her and all the feelings you once had comes rushing back.

 

She was brought back when she feels Penny’s small hand lifting her forearm, grunting with the effort, and making her wave. “There!” Penny says. “Now you’re saying hi!”

 

Christen looks back over to Tobin, afraid that she might be mad that Penny was there with her. No, Tobin was laughing at probably what her daughter was making her do. Tobin raises her hand and waves back at them before she was called back to take some more pictures of players that were out there warming up for the second half.

 

In any of her conversations with her teammates and her friends, she doesn’t remember them mentioning that Tobin has stopped playing soccer at all. She remembers that she wasn’t called into any of the NT, but she thought it was due to an injury and she was going to come back. Come to think of it, it’s been about a year since she was called in for any NT duty. She tries to focus back on the game, but her mind keeps wandering until she’s brought back to the game when Penny catapults herself into her stomach.

 

“Aunt Kelley scored!” She cheers as she grabs Christen’s hand and pulled her out of her seat to celebrate.

 

“You know you’re cheering against your mom’s team, right?” Christen asks her.

 

Penny nods. “But it’s Aunt Kelley!”

 

Sunrise ends up winning the game with the lone goal coming from Kelley. Penny was a little sad that her team lost, but she was still excited that her Aunt scored. She grabs Christen by the hand and starts leading her down to the field, much to Christen’s horror before Penny realized she should probably tell her babysitter that she was going to go down.

 

“Penny!” Leslie calls as she catches up to them.

 

“Sorry, Leslie,” Penny apologizes. “I was going to go down the field with Christen Press.”

 

“I know, sweetheart, but I have to watch you,” Leslie says.

 

“So can I go down the field with Christen?” Penny asks.

 

Leslie sighs. “Yeah, that’s fine.”

 

“Thank you, Leslie!” Penny says before she starts tugging Christen again.

 

Much sooner than Christen expected, they were at the edge of the field, watching as the other players shake hands and start cooling down.

 

“C’mon,” Penny says as she drags Christen around the Thorns and Sunrise players, introducing her even though everybody knows who she is. Penny introduces her as _Christen Press, best forward in the world_ even to her own teammates, making Christen blush.

 

“Best forward? I am offended,” Mal gasps. “I thought I was the best forward you knew?”

 

“C’mon, Aunt Mal, you didn’t even play forward today,” Penny says. “She plays forward all the time.”

 

“You got me there, kid,” Mal says, ruffling Penny’s auburn hair.

 

“No!” Penny cries as she moves. “Momma worked really hard on those.”

 

“Okay,” Mal says, laughing. She slaps Christen on the butt and heads towards the sidelines. “I’ll see you later, Press.”

 

“C’mon, let’s go find, Momma!” Penny snatches Christen’s hand again. Whether or not she can feel Christen’s urge to flee was unknown, but Penny’s grip on Christen’s hand was tighter and firmer than it was before. Christen lets herself be dragged by the tiny girl with the surprisingly strong grip.

 

Penny stops and spots someone in the crowd and lets go of Christen’s hand and runs forward to where a group of people was. For a second there, Christen thought she had lost the girl and her panic starts to heighten. _Oh god, Tobin is going to kill me if I lose her daughter_. She pushes past the people, trying to keep a lookout for Penny’s distinctive hair. She sees her looking up at someone and being lifted in the air. Christen hurries her steps, panic lodged in her throat. She stops short when she sees it was Allie lifting the girl. She walks over to them, trying to calm herself a bit.

 

“Hey, Press,” Allie greets as Penny turns around.

 

“Aunt Allie, this is Christen Press, the best forward in the world,” Penny introduces.

 

Allie laughs as she tickles Penny. “I know who she is, Penstar. We play on the national team together.”

 

“Oh right,” Penny giggles. “Where’s Momma?”

 

 “She’s around her somewhere taking photos,” Allie says, gesturing to the field.

 

“Kay,” Penny says as she kicks against Allie’s legs. “I’m gonna go find her! Stay here!”

 

Allie lets her down and they watch her for a moment. The familiar panic was rising in her throat again, afraid that something was going to happen to Penny while she was roaming the field.

 

“She’ll be fine, Press,” Allie murmurs to her, smiling at her reaction. “She’s done this a million times and there are a lot of people looking out for her.”

 

“Okay,” Christen says, distractedly, but she can’t help but look around and try to find the little girl.

 

“Press,” Allie says, trying to get her attention. “Christen.” Allie reaches over and taps her on the shoulder.

 

“Huh, what?” Christen mutters, her eyes snapping back to Allie. Her voice was a little harsh at being interrupted.  “Did you say something?”

 

Allie just laughs, shaking her head.

 

Christen looks abashed. “Sorry, Al, did you say something?”

 

Allie laughs harder and heaves a breath. “Yeah, Penny is a charming little shit, isn’t she?”

 

“Yeah,” Christen admits. “Will she be okay out there?”

 

Allie nods. “Yeah, she’ll find Tobin, sooner or later out there.”

 

“Hey, Al, how come Tobin doesn’t play anymore? I thought that-”

 

“I found her!” Penny sing-songs as she comes back into the circle, dragging Tobin behind her.

 

She feels a tug at her wrist as Penny urges her to turn around. She takes a deep breath and turns around, her eyes immediately meeting Tobin’s brown ones. She didn’t want to use this stupid cliche, but she swears she can feel all her breath leave her lungs in one exhale.

 

“Hi, Christen,” Tobin says, her voice finding that familiarity when she says her name.

 

“Hi,” Christen breathes.

 

“Ow, mommy, you’re crushing my hand!” Penny whines as she pulls her hand out of her mother’s hand, confused as to why her mother was suddenly speechless and unable to control her hands.

 

“Oh, sorry, Pen!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanna say thank you to @captainmurca for letting me use her Sunrise team as I was too lazy/not good enough to make a roster of my own. So thanks, dude!


	3. Chapter 3

Penny watches her mother and Christen with wide calculating eyes, trying to take stock of their interactions. But they weren’t doing anything.  They were just staring at each other with apprehensive eyes. It’s like they were afraid of each other. Which was just ridiculous in her opinion why would they be scared of each other?

 

“Hey, Penny,” Allie whispers as she picks up the little girl, grunting with the effort. “You wanna go see your cousin?”

 

Penny shakes her head and kicks against Allie. “No, they need all the help they can get!”

 

Allie laughs and looks at Christen and Tobin who was still staring at each other. “Ah, I think they can manage fine, Penstar.”

 

Penny sighs, letting herself be taken away. “Okay, but we can’t take long.”

 

“We won’t,” Allie assures her as they start walking away. “Let’s just leave these hopeless two together.”

 

Penny looks over Allie’s shoulder, continuing to watch the two women. Her eyes squint as they become further away, trying to improve her vision of the two women. It doesn’t look like they’ve moved an inch and Penny wanted to tell her Aunt Allie that she needs to be there in order to get things moving.

 

“Penny!”

 

Penny looks around to see her cousin waving wildly at her. Penny waves back excitedly, kicking against Allie’s leg to be let down. She runs to her cousin, her mother and Christen forgotten as they start to play. Allie watches them for a second before she asks Emily to watch the two munchkins as she grabs her stuff so that she can shower.

-

-

-

“Quite a kid you got there,” Christen says as she stares at Tobin, her eyes flitting over the nuances of her face.  Though her face was still the same, she definitely looked older. Around her eyes, she had more of her signature crinkle. Her eyes held more surety in them. They no longer look undecided. Her mannerisms were also much harder and unyielding, they no longer held the usual looseness that Tobin had when they were dating. She supposes that having a kid will do that to you.

 

Tobin smiles as she thinks about Penny. “Yeah, she’s something…”

 

They continue to stare at each other, unsure how to proceed.

 

Tobin tries to compare Christen’s face as to how she last saw her three years ago. Granted, her eyes were no longer bloodshot from crying. Her eyes were still the mysterious gray sometimes green and all the colors in between. She definitely looks happier from when she last saw her.

 

Christen opens her mouth to say something, anything that might ease this little reunion.

 

“Christen!”

 

She turns around to see Mal waving her over. Christen glares at her and waves her away before she turns back to Tobin. “Tobin.”

 

Tobin gives her a smile, tapping the camera around her neck as well. “It’s fine. Duty calls, right?” She cringes as she realizes that can be misinterpreted as it was very similar to what they said three years ago, only a little more bitter and more definitive. “Sorry.”

 

Christen smiles at her reassuringly. “It’s fine. I’ll talk to you soon?”

 

Tobin nods. “Definitely.” She raises the camera, taking a quick picture of Christen before she leaves, catching Christen off guard. She looks at the photo and gives Christen a smile before she walks away.

-

-

-

“You look like you were in need of rescuing,” Mal says as her and Christen starts walking into the tunnel to head to the locker room.

 

“Oh, Mal,” Christen groans. “I actually wanted to talk to her.”

 

“Oh, sorry, Chris,” Mal says, sheepishly.

 

Christen sighs as she throws an arm around the younger girl, pulling her closer. “It’s okay,” she says.

 

Mal shrugs. “You guys just looked really awkward with each other. I figured someone needs to stop it if not for your sake then for ours because that thing was just painful to watch.”

 

Christen flicks her on the head as they go inside the locker room.

 

“Ow,” Mal mutters. “That’s the thank I get for rescuing you?”

 

“Go inside,” Christen orders, laughing.

 

“Aye-aye, Press!” Mal says, saluting her before running to her locker.

Christen shakes her head in amusement and went to go look for Kelley. Her nerves seem to come alive after the interaction with Tobin as her hands were slightly trembling. She curls them into fists, pushing them into her crossed arms. She looks over to Kelley’s locker and sees that her things were still there. She sits at one of the chairs, watching her teammates interact with each other, laughing at their jokes. She lets the adrenaline of her interaction with Tobin pull her into the conversation and the shenanigans of her teammates.

-

-

-

Penny watches the door like a hawk, even though Emily was trying to get her attention so they could play a game. She wanted no part of their games when her mother’s love life was on the line. When Tobin finally walks through the room, Penny runs to her throwing herself at her.

 

Tobin deftly catches the flying little girl, lifting her into her arms. “Is James teasing you again, Penny?”

 

Penny shakes her head, her braid flying. “No! Did you talk to Christen? Was she nice? Do you like her?”

 

“Woah, Penny,” Tobin says. “That is way too many questions, my girl. Yes, Christen and I talked. Yes she was nice and of course, I like her, Pen. We used to play together, remember?”

 

“That’s not what I meant,” Penny says. “Do you like _like_ her?”

 

Tobin gives her daughter a tight smile, unsure of how to tell her that she will always like Christen like that. But she didn’t want to get her hopes up since Tobin knows Penny has been on a mission lately and she didn’t want to encourage her.

 

“Well…”

 

Penny groans. “Momma don’t say it’s complicated.”

 

“Well, it is,” Tobin says.

 

“That’s adult talk for no,” Penny says, pouting. “Why can’t you just say if you like her or not?”

 

Tobin gives her a wry smile, brushing off some of her auburn hair away from her face. “I wish it was that simple, Penny.”

 

Penny continues to pout, unsatisfied with her mother’s answers. She lay her head on the crook of her mother’s neck, hiding her face in it, not wanting to show her frustration.

 

Tobin notice the shift in her mood, immediately. She rubs Penny’s back, trying to calm the little girl down. She was going to leave her with Allie again and talk to the coach about the possibility of rejoining the team and what she needed to do in order to earn a spot, but with Penny’s sudden mood change, she knew she would have to wait. She says goodbye to the rest of the team, leaving Allie and her daughter last.

 

“You guys heading out?” Allie asks from the floor of the locker room as she plays with her daughter, Joey.

 

“Yeah,” Tobin says. “Penny isn’t feeling so hot at the moment.”

 

Allie nods, knowingly. She hoists her kid up into her arms and brings her over to where Tobin and Penny were standing. “Alright, Joey, say goodbye to your cousin.”

 

“Bye Penpen,” Joey whispers, laying a kiss on the back of her head as her face was still buried in Tobin’s neck.

 

“You guys are so precious,” Allie says as she tickles her daughter.

 

Tobin smiles at Joey and how cute the little one was being. She couldn’t help but worry though, since Penny didn’t even acknowledge her favorite person. “Bye Joey. I’ll see you later Al.”

 

“Bye,” Allie says, watching Penny with concern in her eyes as the little girl continues to lay limply in Tobin’s arms.

-

-

-

“So I see Penny got to you.”

 

Christen scrambles to hide the paper as Kelley sits in front of her with her laptop. Kelley laughs.

 

“Don’t. I already know what that little shit is up to. She gave me an application too.”

 

Christen’s brows furrow. “Does she know you and Emily are together?”

 

Kelley nods. “She gave one to Emily too. She said we can be one big happy family.”

 

“Did you fill it out?” Christen asks as she looks at the application. The only thing she answered was if she had any other pets than a dog and her name of course.

 

“Yeah,” Kelley says. “I mean Emily and I mostly put joke answers, but why not? She’s just a kid. Tobs won’t let it get that far.”

  
Christen nods, trying to consider what she says. “I guess I’ll fill it out.”

 

“Don’t take it so seriously, Chris,” Kelley says, patting her arm. “It’s just Penny being Penny.”

 

“Hey, can I ask you something?” Christen asks.

 

“You already did, but go ahead,” Kelley teases.

 

Christen rolls her eyes. She taps the feather green pen against her wrist, wondering how she should word her question to Kelley. “How did Penny came to be?”

 

“Chris as an adult woman, I would think you would know how babies came to be,” Kelley teases. At Christen’s glare, she shrugs. “She just appeared out of nowhere and we were like okay, I guess we have another team kid.”

 

“Kelley,” Christen groans. “I’m serious.”

 

Kelley relents. “I don’t really know how much I can tell you, but I’ll tell you the basics. Do you remember that time we called you while you were in Germany? Because Tobin’s been in an accident?”

 

Christen nods. She can still remember the dread that took over when she received the phone call from Alex saying that Tobin has been involved in a very bad accident and it didn’t look good. She remembers having the urge to drop everything and fly out, but held on since she didn’t know where they stood at that point after their breakup.

 

“Tobin was with Penny’s family that day,” Kelley explains. “After your breakup, she got really close to Penny’s parents. They didn’t have any surviving family so Tobin decided to adopt Penny. And she’s been with us ever since.”

 

“How long has she had Penny?”

 

“About two years, I would say? Almost three?” Kelley muses. “Let me tell you, it was a real shock driving up to her apartment to see a three-year-old toddling around like she owned the place.”

 

“You didn’t know she adopted Penny?”

 

Kelley shakes her head. “Nope, we knew she was involved in the accident, but we didn’t think that Tobin would do that.”

 

Later on Christen lays on her bed, trying to absorb and put herself in Tobin’s shoes on what she would’ve done if that had happened to her. It’s so different from the Tobin she knows who wanted nothing to do with kids or the responsibility that comes with them. All Tobin wanted to do was play soccer. She turns over in her bed and grabs the application again, this time filling the whole thing out.

-

-

-

“What’s got you so mopey?” Lauren asks the little girl as she helps her son into his clothes. “Don’t you wanna play with J?”

 

Penny was laying on her stomach on the grass, chin in her hands as she watches Jrue run around the backyard with her soccer ball. She stays silent, trying to figure out the best way to tell her aunt what was occupying her mind. She turns over and sits up. “How did you and Uncle Jrue meet?”

 

“Well, we went to the same school,” Lauren says, already gearing up to tell the little one her love story. She’s told it a million times to Jrue, who wanted it as her bedtime story when she was four.

 

“U-C-L-A!” Jrue chants as she claps the eight clap.

 

“No way!” Penny exclaims. “Stanford!”

 

Lauren laughs at the two. “Did Kelley tell you to say that?”

 

“Uh-huh! She gave me five bucks!” Penny says happily.

 

“Say that when you’re momma is around and I’ll give you another five dollars, okay?” Lauren bargains. Her mind can already see the way Tobin would groan and moan at how her daughter is being corrupted and brainwashed.

 

“Okay,” Penny readily agrees.

 

“But you have to do it when I’m there, so I can see her face.”

 

Penny nods her head again. Her mind coming up with possibilities on how to use the five dollars. “Okay!” Penny watches as her Aunt Lauren gets up and she remembers that she had an earlier question that can help her with a mission. She grabs her Aunt Lauren’s hand. “Wait! I have a question!”

 

“Go ahead, sweetie,” Lauren says, sitting back down to show she has her full attention.

 

“You say that you and Uncle Jrue met at school,” Penny says. “Does that mean I have to go to school to find momma a girlfriend? Or do I tell her to go back to school?”

 

“What do you mean sweetheart?” Lauren asks, thoroughly confused as to how it became a talk about relationships all of a sudden. Tobin’s relationship no less.

 

“I think my momma is lonely-”

 

_You and I both, kiddo_

 

“-and I don’t want her to be lonely no more. But she’s making things hard!” Penny wails as she flops on her stomach again, covering her eyes.

 

Lauren rubs her back, trying to offer some comfort to the munchkin. She knows how stubborn Tobin can be seeing as she dealt with it when it was so much worse than it is now. “Why is she making things hard, sweetie?”

 

“She won’t look at the candidates!” Penny says as she sits up again. “I gave her Aunt Kelley’s application, Aunt Emily’s application-”

 

“Sweetie, Aunt Emily and Aunt Kelley-”

 

“Are together, I know,” Penny finishes. “And Christen Press!”

 

“Christen Press?”

 

“Uh-huh,” Penny nods as she starts picking at the grass blades. “She’s very pretty and nice and she has a fish that plays soccer, but momma won’t even talk to her!”

 

“Sweetie,” Lauren begins, her voice trying to convey patience. “It’s not that simple. Things are complicated between your mother and Christen.”

 

“Can you uncomplicate it, Aunt Lauren?” Penny asks, turning her green eyes to Lauren, knowing adults can’t resist it for some reason.

 

“I wish I could, sweetheart,” Lauren says softly as she cards her fingers through her hair. “But Christen and your mom have some history.”

 

Penny’s nose wrinkles as she looks up at Lauren in confusion. “What does that mean?”

 

“Well that means that they have a lot of things going on both in the past and in the present and maybe that’s why they’re not really up to dating right now,” Lauren explains.

 

“That’s dumb!” Penny harrumphs as she crosses her arms over her chest. “Adults are dumb!”

 

Lauren gasps, putting a hand over her heart as she fakes being offended. “Am I dumb?”

 

“No!” Penny cries tackling Lauren to the ground. “Never Aunt Cheney! You’re like the most smartest person in the world!”

 

“Tackle hug!” Jrue yells, pouncing on her mother as well. Jrue looks around for her brother who was just toddling around the grassy area of the park. “Zane! C’mon! Tackle hug!”

 

“Hug!” Zane screams running to Lauren as well. “Mama!”  


Lauren laughs letting the kids attack her, feeling immensely loved. “Alright, my munchkins. We should probably head back. Your momma should be done.”

 

Lauren instructs the two older girls to help her pack their toys into their backpacks. Lauren helps the two girls with their backpack before they start their trek back to Tobin’s house. As Lauren predicted, Tobin’s car was parked in the driveway. Once Penny sees the familiar car, she runs ahead, opening the side door to go through the backyard, knowing that if her mother is home, the backdoor is usually open as well.

 

“Momma!” Penny yells as she goes through the house with Jrue hot on her heels.

 

Tobin turns around just as Penny throws herself in her arms. Tobin doesn’t miss a beat and spins the little girl around, her hair flying everywhere, melodious giggles erupting from her mouth. Tobin stops and hugs her. “Did you have fun with Cheney?”

 

“Yeah-huh! We went to the park!” Penny says. “I fed the ducks! And one almost chased me!”

 

“But it didn’t!” Jrue adds as she stands next to Tobin.

 

“It didn’t!” Penny says again.

 

Tobin looks up when the door opens once again and Lauren enters with Zane in her arms. “I heard you almost got my kid eaten by a duck.”

 

“I told you not to taunt it, Penny,” Lauren says to the little girl.

 

“Did you tease the duck?” Tobin questions.

 

Penny looks around, refusing to meet her mother’s eyes, showing her guilt. “Maybe…”

 

“Good thing it didn’t…” Tobin trails off before yelling out, “BITE YOU!” She playfully bites all over Penny’s cheek and face, making the little girl squeal with laughter.

 

“Momma, stop!” Penny cries as she moves her face, left and right, squirming away from her Tobin’s teeth and mouth.

 

“Tobin, don’t eat your kid now,” Lauren says as she lets Zane down who immediately runs to her godmother asking to be picked up.

 

“No, Zane!” Penny says as she looks down on him from Tobin’s arms. She wraps her arms around Tobin’s neck. “This is my momma!”

 

“Hey, you can share,” Tobin says as she crouches down and picks Zane up with her right arm.

 

“I’m just joking, Zane,” Penny says, leaning forward, pressing a kiss on his forehead.

 

“Well, you have a surprise visitor,” Tobin tells her.

 

“Who?” Penny asks, tilting her head towards Tobin, her voice rising in pitch. She looks around excitedly.

 

Tobin puts her down on the ground and instructs her to go to her room. “Why don’t you go find out? J, go with her. I’m sure she’ll want to see you too.”

 

“Okay!” Jrue says as she hops down from the bar stool and runs after Penny.

 

“Joey here?” Lauren asks as she peruses through Tobin’s fridge to make something for the five of them.

 

“Yeah, date night for Bati and Allie,” Tobin says as she plays with Zane, bouncing him around the kitchen. “Are you going to make something for us?”

 

“Yeah,” Lauren says as she takes out the chicken and some vegetables. “Speaking of date nights, I hear your daughter is acting as a matchmaker.”

 

Tobin groans as she sits down on the stool that Jrue was previously sitting on. “She has it in her head that I’m lonely. She’s been giving out applications for people to fill out.”

 

“Well are you?” Lauren asks, her voice taking on that tone that makes her want to simultaneously run and hide because she knows  a heart-to-heart is coming up and run into Lauren’s arms for comfort. Tobin gives her a confused glance and Lauren clarifies, “Lonely.”

 

Tobin scoffs at the idea.  “I’m not. I’m perfectly content with just Penny and I.”

 

“You don’t feel lonely at all?” Lauren asks, softly. “Tobin…”

 

“No,” Tobin says, the feeling of annoyance starting to seep into her words. Zeke tenses up in her arms at the sudden shift of her mood. She tries to make her voice neutral and even as to not alarm the younger boy. “Don’t do that voice. Don’t make it sound like it’s such a sad thing that I’m not in a relationship.”

 

“Okay, okay,” Lauren says, her voice continues to be soft and pacify similar to how she calms Jrue and Zeke. “I’m sorry.”

 

“I’m fine, Chen,” Tobin swears. “I don’t feel alone at all.”

 

“There’s a difference between alone and lonely, Tobin,” Lauren says. “You don’t feel alone because Penny is with you, but Tobin, you haven’t dated anyone since you and Christen broke up three years ago.”

 

“I’ve been busy,” Tobin dismisses. “I’m trying to get back on the team, Lauren and raising a six-year-old at the same time. I don’t exactly have time for myself right now.”

 

Penny sits by the hallway, the drawing held in her hands as she listens to her mother talk to her aunt. She wanted to show her the drawing that she had worked so hard on; a picture of her and her mom passing a soccer ball. Her mind was made up as she listens to the two talking. She’s going to get her mother and Christen Press together. It was the least she could do.


	4. four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoy it! Thank you for all the kudos, comments, and feedback guys from the last chapter. I really appreciate it. I'm so sorry this took weirdly long as I took a surprise break. If there are any mistakes feel free to tell me in the comments and I will change it promptly. I tried editing it, of course, but there's only so much I can read through.

Tobin looks down at her portfolio of pictures as well as the bundles around her desk. She never really thought photography as a career. At first she did it so she felt closer to the team while she was recovering and it evolved from there. For almost two years her hobby has been her career and her career has turned into a hobby.

 

She startles when she feels a hand on her shoulder. She looks up to see Lauren looking down at her worriedly.

 

“I’ve been calling you for the past five minutes, Tobs,” Cheney informs her, confused at her unresponsive friend. “Everything okay?”

 

“Chen, I’m so confused,” Tobin says as she stares at the pictures in front of her.

 

Lauren looks down as well, smiling as she stares at the photos that are scattered across her desk and lap. “You always had an eye for this thing.” She picks up a photo of her family that Tobin was gracious enough to shoot for her. “What’s wrong?”

 

“I got offered a job in LA as a photographer.”

 

“Tobs that’s great!”

 

“But that means I’m permanently giving up trying to come back on the team,” Tobin finishes.

 

“Oh, Tobs,” Lauren whispers as she lays a hand on her shoulder.

 

Tobin sighs, putting her face in her hands. “I don’t know what to do, Cheney.”

 

“How about this,”  Lauren says as she grabs a pen and paper from Tobin’s desk. She draws two columns, writing PRO for one and CON on the other. “Make a list a pros and cons list.” She perches herself the edge of the desk and nods her head. “Go on.”

 

“Con in big letters,” Tobin says. “I’ll have to leave the Thorns and soccer.”

 

“For one con, give me a pro,” Lauren instructs, feeling that unless she explicitly states it, Tobin is going to state all cons for this.

 

“Con: I won’t be able to see my friends.”

 

“Tobin,” Lauren says exasperated at her defiance of her request. “Pro: Your friends are everywhere Tobin,” Lauren counters.

 

“Pro: I love photography.”

 

“Pro: Penny will have a stable home life,” Tobin says. She watches as Lauren writes it. She thinks about it for a second before she tells her, “Can you underline that? That one is really important to me.”

 

Lauren nods, making sure Tobin can see her underlining and putting stars around that particular pro. Three years ago, she wouldn’t even think Tobin was capable of settling down and taking care of another being (if that being wasn’t a soccer ball). She wanted to say she was proud, but the circumstances of how it happened made her think otherwise. “Tell me why you want to do this.”

 

Tobin pulls her hands away from her face. “What?”

 

“Why are you doing this?” Lauren repeats. “I mean it’s great that this will give Penny more stability, but for you, Tobin. What’s your reason?”

 

Tobin contemplates about it for a second, trying to find the correct words to say what’s she’s feeling. “I guess it’s because right now, soccer has given me nothing but grief,” she admits. “I’ve been trying for so long to get healthy again so I can play, but I’m tired of it. The only time that soccer has given me the same rush that it did when I was playing on the field was when I was able to take a step back and look at it through my lens.

 

“Remember almost two years ago when I was so low after the accident? Then I adopted Penny? When I take photos, I feel that sense of joy again and I never thought photography would give me that. I just don’t want to feel like I’m stuck anymore.”

 

Lauren smiles and hands Tobin the paper. “There’s your reason.” Lauren pats her on the back before adding, “But remember playing isn’t the only thing tying you to soccer.” She grabs Tobin’s hand, tugging her out of her chair. “Now c’mon and eat. I might not help you with this dilemma of yours, but I do make a bombass roast.”

-

-

-

“How was school, Penny?” Tobin asks as Penny walks towards her.

 

Penny shrugs as she looks down on the floor, making sure to skip over the lines in the concrete. “Boring! Why do I need to go to school?”

 

“So you can learn stuff,” Tobin says. “Hey, you want some ice cream?”

 

“Ooh yeah!” Penny says, her eyes wide with excitement as she stops. “Can I get a two scoop?”

 

“Uh yeah,” Tobin agrees as she leads them to their usual ice cream spot.

 

Penny stops again. “You never let me get a two scoop.”

 

Tobin gives her a smile, even though it feels strained to her. She decides not to answer and opens the door for Penny. “Just order your ice cream Pen.”

-

-

-

They go to their usual ice cream parlor. A mom and pop owned establishment that had a nice playful vibe with their colorful chairs and booths as well as some arcade games and gashapon machines that littered the place. As promised, Tobin let Penny get a two scoop ice cream even though she knows that Penny will be up later than normal and that she wouldn’t finish the whole   thing. Tobin orders a simple chocolate sundae. They sit at one of the plush booths by the window which offered a bit more privacy.

 

Tobin watches Penny eat her ice cream cone. The little girl was engrossed in her ice cream, trying to lick every small stream that drips down to no avail. Tobin laughs and grabs a couple of napkins, wiping her face and hands. She eats her own ice cream sundae that’s in a bowl instead of a cone.

 

“This ice cream is good, momma,” Penny says when she sees her mom looking at her. She holds out the cone to Tobin. “You want some?”

 

“Nah, I’m good,” Tobin says, shaking her head.  “But I have a question for you, Pen?”

 

“Okay shoot,” Penny replies her attention on the ice cream cone that was in her hands.

 

“What do you say about moving to Los Angeles?”

 

“Where Aunt Kelley lives?” Penny asks, remembering the city name for the times they played the Sunrise as well as the countless of visits that they had logged flying down there for Kelley.

 

“Yeah the exact same one,” Tobin says. “What do you think about living there?”

 

Penny shrugs, noncommittally. The ice cream suddenly feels heavy in her stomach. “It’s a nice place. And Aunt Kelley lives there.” _And Christen Press._

 

“So would you get mad if we live there?” Tobin asks. She waits with bated breath. If that pros and cons list didn’t give her much help, her kid definitely would.

 

Penny remains quiet, contemplating it. She would be leaving her friends, her school (when she’s there, but she’s pretty much homeschooled these days), her team, but her mother would be ten times happier because Christen Press will be there (even if she doesn’t know it yet). Penny shakes her head, even though in her heart she knew she would miss Portland. She looks up at Tobin, her eyes shining bright and her grin almost swallowing her ice-cream stained face. “I think it would be a new adventure.”

-

-

-

“I can’t wait for you to tell Allie this,” Lauren said before she left Tobin. Tobin just glared at her, knowing that there will be waterworks from her or Allie, she doesn’t know.

 

“Maybe you can just text her when we move?” Penny suggests as they pull into Allie’s neighborhood.

 

“That depends do you want to see Joey or not?” Tobin asks. As they get closer to Allie’s house, she tries to see if Allie’s car was parked in the driveway. She curses underneath her breath when it was. “Alright, here we go. If you see me floundering, give her a hug. Then she wouldn’t wanna kill me.”

 

“Heaths on three?” Penny asks, putting her hand in.

 

“We don’t need that yet,” Tobin says. “Don’t forget the flowers.”

 

Penny grabs the bouquet that was next to her, waiting for Tobin to help her out of the car. They follow the walkway to Allie’s front door, Penny having to push Tobin every couple of feet to make sure they keep moving.

“You’re such a baby, momma,” Penny had whispered at her when Tobin was about to turn back. Penny holds her mother’s hand, anchoring her, preventing her from trying to run.

 

“Hey, Harry,” Allie says as she opens the door to Penny and Tobin, surprised that they were actually visiting. “Are we having dinner here and I didn’t know?”

 

“No, we just wanted to drop by,” Tobin answers, nudging Penny.

 

“Here Aunt Allie,”  Penny says showing her the bouquet.

 

“Oh, flowers! Thank you!” Allie says as she takes it from the youngster. She looks at the arrangement, her eyes taking stock of the flowers. “Huh, roses and tulips. Are you guys apologizing for something?” Allie jokes.

 

Penny and Tobin share a fearful look that Allie caught.

 

“Oh no, what did you guys do?” Allie asks as she ushers them in. “Tobs, were you in jail? Do you need a lawyer? I know this great lawyer that can-”

 

“Stop, Allie,”  Tobin says. “I don’t need a lawyer.” She gestures at Allie’s leather couch. “You might wanna sit down for this.”

 

Allie obeys, letting the back of her knees hit the couch. She looks up at the mother and daughter duo worriedly.

-

-

-

“Come again?”

 

“The job is in LA,” Tobin repeats. “And please stop making me repeat it. I know you heard it the first three times I said it.”

 

“I...just…” Allie says, at a loss for words. “I don’t understand. You’re leaving me?”

 

“Well, I’m going to be moving down there, but we can still Skype and talk and text and we’ll still see each other for games when you guys down there,” Tobin says, hurriedly. Allie doesn’t look like she’s about to cry, but that could be because Tobin’s eyes were filled with tears and she can’t see through them.

 

“You’re right,” Allie says as she draws Tobin into a hug. “I’m so proud of you, Harry.”

 

“I- thank you,” Tobin says, bursting into tears, startling Allie.

 

“Aw, don’t cry,” Allie says. “You’ll do great, Tobin and don’t forget to keep up with your training!”

 

“That’s the thing, Al,” Tobin says. “I don’t think I’m going to be playing again.”

 

“WHAT?!”

 

-

-

-

“So it went well I take it?” Amy asks through Skype as Tobin carefully sorts through their stuff, trying to figure out which one to put into storage, donate, trash, or take with them.

 

“Yeah, we were both pretty chill,” Tobin says. “I explained to her why I think this a good opportunity for me and why I think it’s time I step back from playing.”

 

“That doesn’t sound like you two,” Amy comments. She walks away from the camera’s reach for a moment and Tobin can hear her scolding Ryan and Luke for something.

 

“Momma cried!” Penny says as she “helps” (really she was just carefully inspecting the donate or trash pile and taking out stuff that Tobin has put in there.  Like an old ticket stub that Penny thinks they should keep because it bears the name thorns on it).

 

Amy laughs. “You guys cried? Now that sounds more like you.”

 

“Aunt Allie didn’t cry,” Penny tells Amy. “Just momma.”

 

“It gets better!” Amy says.

 

“Stop right there, Penny, but that back,” Tobin says as she looks over her shoulder to see Penny taking out her old drum set that she outgrew. Penny looks at her mother with wide eyes before she puts it back in the box. Tobin turns back to Amy and glares at her through the camera. “Why do you insist on celebrating my misery?”

 

“Because it gives me great joy,” Amy replies. “So when are you guys coming down again to      look at houses?”

 

“Saturday,” Tobin says. “You said you can come with us just before lunch?”

 

“Yeah,” Amy confirms.

 

“Alright, cool,” Tobin says. “I can’t believe I’ll be living down there again.”

 

“How things change,” Amy muses.

-

-

-

“What do you think of this place, Pen?” Tobin asks as they pull into the parking in front of the house. “Pen?”

 

Penny remains silent in her booster seat, eyes half-closed. They’ve been looking at houses for the better part of their day and it was starting to catch onto Penny, judging by the way she refuses to answer. Tobin opens the door for her and Penny just raises her arms, wanting to be carried. Tobin sighs and dutifully picks her up, knowing that she won’t get out of the car if she didn’t carry her.  

 

“She’s tired, huh?” Their real estate agent, Kyla, asks.

  
Tobin nods. “Maybe seeing twenty houses in one day wasn’t the best thing to take a six-year-old on.”

 

Kyla laughs as she leads the twosome to the front door that was just tucked at the side like many of the houses on this row. “Well, this one just recently got on the market. It’s not even listed yet. I know you said that beach houses might not be in your budget, but I saw this and I just thought of you two.”

 

She pushes the door open and ushers them into the small landing area. “So upstairs are the master bedroom with an attached bathroom and the 2nd bedroom as well as a detached full  bathroom.” Kyla gestures to the stairs. “Right down those stairs are the third bedroom and third full bathroom.”

 

Kyla motions for them to continue through the doorway. Right when Tobin enters in, she felt a pull towards the house that she didn’t feel towards any of the other houses that they’ve looked at today. It was so jarring to Tobin as to back when she was younger she probably would’ve gone for a more modern look with a white/gray undertone rather than maple.

 

“Momma, the beach is right there!” Penny screams, startling the two women as she kicks against Tobin’s legs, wanting to be let down. She runs across the living room and stands in front of the wide glass double doors, rocking in place. “It’s so close!”

 

“You guys wanna look out into the balcony?” Kyla asks.

 

“Yes!” Penny screams out as she looks over her shoulder. She turns back almost immediately as if she was never going to see it again.

 

The sight of the ocean seemed to perk Penny up and as they walked through the house, she becomes more animated, getting in on the comments even though she has no idea what Kyla is talking about when she talks about the architecture of the house.

 

“This is my room!” Penny declares as she stands in the middle of the room and stares up at the navy blue ceiling. She puts her arms out, twirling.

 

“I thought so too, Penny,” Kyla says. “There’s something really cool about this ceiling.” She walks over to the windows and closes the blind as tight as they can go. She closes the door to the bedroom. Due to the California sun, there was still some light in the room, but it was dark enough that they can see why.

 

“Woah,” Penny whispers, staring in awe. “It’s like I’m in space!”

 

Tobin looks in awe at the painted ceiling as well. They truly made it look like you can be outside with the swatches of black and purple with white, yellow, and various colors dotting it.

 

“I’m a little bit jealous of this room,” Tobin admits as they walk back towards the main room. “Are you sure you don’t want the bigger room, Penny?” She teases.

 

“No! I like the space room!” Penny says. “Maybe if you’re good, they’ll paint it for you.”

 

Tobin laughs. “I don’t think that’s how it works, Pen.”

 

“Well it should! I want all the ceilings to look like that!” Penny says. She turns to Kyla again, giving her the most charming smile that she learned from her mother, complete with the dimple. “Kyla, can we go out the balcony again?”

 

Tobin stifles a laugh at Kyla’s bemused face. Kyla acquiesces and leads her to the balcony. Tobin hears a noise and she goes over to the front door and opens it to see Amy looking around the neighborhood.

 

“Tobs,” Amy greets as she gives her a hug. “This place is gorgeous.”

 

“I know right? It’s very homey too,” Tobin comments gesturing to the wooden floors and the fireplace at the east side of the living room as she waits for Amy. “They’re out on the balcony.” Tobin opens the door for her, ushering her outside where Penny was dutifully gushing over the view and the house in general.

 

“Wow,” Amy comments as she sees the view.

 

“Isn’t it very pretty, Aunt Arod?” Penny asks. “The ocean is very pretty.”

 

“It is!” Arod agrees. “Are you excited to be living near your Aunt Kelley and Aunt Christen and Ryan and Luke?”

 

Tobin blanches at the mention of Christen’s name. How can she forget that Christen lived in Manhattan Beach when it was basically their home base during their offseason. It seemed like a lifetime ago.

 

She snaps out of her daze when she sees Arod being dragged by her tiny human up the stairs where the master bedroom and Penny’s bedroom are.

 

“Where are you guys going?” Tobin calls to them.

 

“Imma show her my room, momma!” Penny tells her mom. “She needs to see the magnificence!”

 

“So, what’s the verdict?" Kyla asks.

 

“We want it,” Tobin says.

 

Kyla fist pumps. “I knew you guys would love this. Let me draw the offer up and get back to you, alright?”

 

“Sounds good,” Tobin says as she draws the woman into a hug. “Thanks for all your help, Ky.”

 

“Hey any friends of Kelley’s are a friend of mine,” Kyla says as she walks out. “I’ll keep you updated. Just put the key back in the lockbox once you guys are done checking it out.”

 

Tobin nods, saluting her. She goes to the kitchen, putting her elbows on the granite countertop. She can definitely see herself living in this place with Penny.

-

-

-

“Isn’t this cool, Aunt Amy?” Penny gushes as she shows her aunt. “It’s like you're outside!”

 

“It’s very cool,” Amy says as she looks up. “Are you excited to be living down here, Pen?”

 

Penny nods, still staring at the sky. “I miss my friends, but it’s okay because I’ll make new ones!”

 

Amy smiles. “Of course you will! Who wouldn’t wanna be friends with you?”

 

“Aunt Amy, I have a very important question.”

 

“Go ahead, sweetie,” Amy says.

 

“Where do you and Uncle Arod go when you go on dates?” Penny asks.

 

“Well,” Amy says, a little bit confused as to why Penny was asking this. “Why are you asking this sweetie?”

 

Penny shrugs. “For research.”

 

“You’re six,” Amy says confused.

 

“Research for six-year-olds,” Penny says again as if that answers everything.

 

Before Amy can answer, Tobin knocks on the door telling them they have to go. Penny groans in frustration at being interrupted. She can just Christen what her favorite restaurant is.

-

-

-

 

-

-

-

“Dude, this place is sick,” Kelley says as she carries a box in. “You actually live closer to the ocean than I do.”

 

“I know! I can’t believe they were selling it for so low,” Tobin says as she unpacks a box in the kitchen.

 

“Can I leave my surfboard here so I don’t have to trek it all the way from my house?” Kelley asks, a little jokingly (but not really).

 

“Yeah, go for it,” Tobin says. “Just put it in the garage. I’ll leave  you the code so you can come in.”

 

“I’m jealous of this view,” Kelley says as she stands in front doors. She stares at the ocean for another minute or so before she goes and helps Tobin. “So how’s One Cent settling in?”

 

“Good,” Tobin says. “She’s actually made some friends already.”

 

“Naturally.”

 

“And she’s playing with them right now,” Tobin says.

 

“Lucky kid gets out of unpacking duty,” Kelley comments.

 

“I figured she’ll be more in the way if she’s here,” Tobin says. “Speaking of which, do you know any local clubs?”

 

“For One Cent?” Kelley shakes her head. “You know who would though?”

 

Tobin sighs as she follows Kelley’s reasoning. “Yeah.”

 

“Just give her a call and say it’s for Penny,” Kelley says. “I don’t think she’ll mind.” She digs around for her phone and sends Tobin her contact information.

 

Tobin sighs, but agrees. She’s already dreading the conversation as she can already predict that it’s going to be awkward and stilted. She’ll come back from the conversation feeling like she did something wrong all over again. But for Penny, she’ll endure it all.

-

-

-

“Momma.”

 

Tobin startles awake from her sleep, her eyes opened to two green eyes staring back at her. Penny was sitting on her haunches, tears in her eyes. The haziness of sleep in her brain was quickly blown away at the sight of them.

 

“Hey, hey, hey what’s wrong?” Tobin asks as she sits up and gathers the little girl in her arms.

 

“I had a bad dream,” Penny whispers as she settles herself in her lap.

 

“What was it about?” Tobin asks, afraid that Penny had lapsed back when she first came to live with Tobin.

 

She was bubbly, always had a smile on her face. She was Tobin’s light in those first few months after the accident, but at night, the light in her eyes were extinguished and she would have nightmares that she didn’t understand. She supposes that the unfamiliar place is also bringing up some repressed memories and feelings.

 

“I was an egg,” Penny mumbles as she wipes away her tears with the sleeve of her pajamas. “And you wanted to eat me. But you didn’t know it was me! And I kept screaming for you to not eat me, but you put me in your toast and ate me!”

 

Tobin pursed her lips to stifle her laughter as she realizes that Penny might get offended that her mother was laughing at her nightmare.

 

“Momma, I can feel you laughing,” Penny pouts.

 

“I’m sorry, bub,” Tobin says, dropping a kiss on her forehead. “But even as an egg, I will never eat you.”

 

“What if you don’t know it’s me?” Penny whimpers, the mere thought scaring the crap out of her.

 

“I’ll always know it’s you,” Tobin promises. “Now you wanna sleep in here with me?”

 

“Can we go watch the sunrise?”

-

-

-

Tobin loves the quiet moments she has with Penny. It feels like time stood still for just the both of them and they can continue to rebuild the world that they lost. It reminds Tobin that the peacefulness was a facade, but it was also a quiet comfort for the both of them.

 

“Mama, look! A pinecone!” Penny says as she comes back waving it in the air. “Imma call it Georgie!”

 

“That’s a great name for a pinecone!” Tobin agrees as she sits on the blanket. She pats the space next to her.  “Now come here. My phone says the sun should rise any moment.”

 

“Cool,” Penny says as she sits down next to Tobin. “I like watching the sunrise with you, Momma.”

 

Tobin smiles. “I like watching it with you, too, Penny. Now let’s put Georgie in the corner so we can see it.”

 

“Nobody puts Georgie in the corner!” Penny says as she carefully sits the pinecone at the edge of their blanket. “Except for me,” she whispers. She settles herself in her mother’s lap, grabbing Tobin’s arms and putting it around her.

 

Tobin smiles her mind made up. “It’s you and me against the world, kid,” Tobin whispers as she drops a kiss on her auburn hair.

 

 _Not for long,_ Penny thoughts as she watches the sun emerge from the horizon, bringing light and color with it. And to Penny, hope that her mother will finally get her head out of her ass.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Send me your thoughts!


	5. five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Sorry this chapter took too long and sorry for all the mistakes (but feel free to tell me if I have any). Thank you for all the comments and kudos for the last chapter. I really appreciate any feedback you give me. Hope you enjoy it!

“Ooh are we done unpacking?” Penny asks as she slides across the room using her socks. When she reaches one end of the room, she takes a running head starts and slides again, giggling all the while.

 

“You mean am I done unpacking?” Tobin teases as she grabs the last decorative piece in the box that she was pretty sure Cheney gave and puts it on the shelf. “Here Pen,” Tobin says as she gives the box to Penny.

 

“Yes!” Penny fist pumps as she slides over to Tobin. She looks inside the box, inspecting the box closely. She knocks the side of it, making sure it was durable. She looks at where the board meet each other. “Yes this will do,” she says seriously as she nods.

 

She goes to the deck and puts it with the rest of the boxes she deemed acceptable. Tobin watches as Penny carefully arranges the boxes by size and putting them against the wall before she goes back into the house.

 

“You want to tell me what you’re going to do with those boxes?” Tobin asks.  

 

“When the time is right, you will know,” Penny says nonchalantly as she closes the door. She turns to Tobin giving her a wide smile. “Can we go to the park now?”

 

“Yeah, go get ready,” Tobin says as she goes to the kitchen to grab some water for them.

 

Penny grabs her backpack from the floor by the door and slips her feet into her shoes. “I’m ready!” She calls to Tobin.

 

Tobin looks over her shoulder, surprised at how fast Penny got ready. She didn’t want to admit it but if it had nothing to do with soccer or animals, Penny was on the lazy side. She hates school and hates having to wake up every morning for it. Penny’s mother would be rolling in her grave if she knows how much her daughter hates school.

 

She smiles, amused at how excited Penny was. She couldn’t blame the kid. They’ve been cooped up in the house, trying to unpack everything (well Tobin mostly unpacked everything while Penny was the one making friends with the neighbors). But still the little girl was beginning to get cabin fever and it showed with the way she keeps bouncing on her toes as she waits for Tobin, her eyes darting everywhere to make sure she has everything she needs to have a fun day at the park.

 

Tobin hands Penny her water bottle to put in her bag. She grabs her own bottle and stuffs it on the side.  “Alright, you ready to go?”

 

“Am I ever?!” Penny says, her voice animated as she starts telling Tobin what she has in her backpack to have the best day in the park. “I’m going conquer the webs today then-” She holds for dramatic effect. “I’m going to become queen of the playground! I’ll be Spiderman!”

 

“Wouldn’t you be Spidergirl?” Tobin asks as she locks the door to their house.

 

“Nope, I’m going to be Spiderman,” Penny says, definitively as she takes the lead. She goes on the raised concrete fences of the houses they pass, holding out her arms for balance, giving Tobin small heart attacks whenever she wobbles.

 

They walk to the small park at the edge of their neighborhood that was just steps away from the beach. Right when they pass through the wooden gate, Penny drops her backpack by Tobin’s feet and runs to the playground, immediately going to the monkey bars, her warm up as she likes to call it.

 

“Be careful, Pen!” Tobin calls to her as she looks for a tree to spread their blanket on. She finds one that was a perfect distance from the playground that she can be over to Penny in a second if anything happens to her, but far enough that she doesn’t feel like she’s hovering. There’s nothing more than she hates than a helicopter parent. She cringes as she can see there’s more than a couple of them in this playground by the playground’s edges, watching their kids with narrowed eyes.

 

Tobin grabs her iPad to answer some emails as well as edit some photos, occasionally looking up to make sure Penny was still in the playground,  playing happily. She was engrossed in finalizing an edit of her photo when Penny throws herself on the blanket next to her.

 

“Hi,” Penny says looking up at Tobin with a toothy grin.

 

“Hey, Pen, what’s up?” Tobin says, closing her iPad and putting it away. “I thought you were going to conquer the web today?”

 

“Yeah, but I need a break!” Penny says as she scoots herself to put herself on Tobin’s lap. “I’m going to conquer it later.”

 

Tobin laughs and moves her knee up, jostling the little girl making her giggle. “C’mon, you just had a nap. Wanna kick the ball around?”

 

At the mention of soccer, Penny immediately sits up, putting her palms together, pleading. “Please, please please!!”

 

“I already said we’re going to play,” Tobin laughs. “C’mon!”

 

“Yess!!” Penny fist pumps as she grabs her bag. She turns it over, quickly emptying it so that the ball would roll out of her bag.

 

“Pen, you’re going to have to clean that up,” Tobin tells her.

 

Penny waves her concern off and puts the ball on the ground, kicking it to Tobin quickly. Tobin can practically see her excitement emanating from her.

 

They pass the ball back and forth, Tobin showing off some of her tricks making Penny giggle and laugh whenever she fails on one. Penny tries to mimics Tobin’s movements, wanting to learn all the tricks that the older woman knows. After failing, Penny sits on the soccer ball, pouting.

 

“I don’t wanna play anymore,” she says, her arms crossed over her arms. “I suck.”

 

Tobin smiles, ruffling her hair. “You do not suck, bud. You just need to practice more.”

 

Penny sighs and nods. She stands up and kicks the ball back to Tobin.

 

Tobin stops it with her foot. “Now, what do we do when we have bad thoughts?” Tobin asks Penny. She didn’t want their day to end with a bummed out kid. She hates it when Penny doubts herself.

 

“We shake it off,” Penny says as she holds out her hand for Tobin. “Can I start it?”

 

“Go ahead,” she says as she grabs Penny’s the outstretched hand.

 

“Shake!” Penny yells, shaking her whole body like a dog before she lifts her arm that was attached to Tobin akin to the motion of the wave.

 

“Shake!” Tobin yells back copying Penny’s movement before passing it off to the younger child again.

 

Penny shakes her whole body again. They went back and forth for a couple of times until Penny’s face was no longer clouded and her eyes were no longer radiating self-doubt and the carefree giggles and laughs were back.

 

“I’m going to conquer the webs!” Penny declares as she runs back to the playground.

 

Tobin watches her for a moment, making sure that Penny had a sure footing on the domed structure. She cleans up Penny’s stuff as well as her stuff, moving to one of the benches to make sure that she can watch her carefully. Tobin cheers Penny on as the little girl climbs. She can see the determined stare on the girl’s face.

 

When Penny reaches the top, she looks over to Tobin, waving with one hand, her other hand clutching the bars beneath her. Tobin smiles proudly at her (although the way her heart is stuttering and the blood rushing in her head at how injured Penny can be if she falls is making that hard).

 

“Good job, Pennylane!” Tobin calls out to her, giving her a thumbs up. She worries her lips as she keeps a careful eye on her.

 

Penny returns her thumbs up, causing her to lose her balance and she lurches. Tobin’s gasp gets caught in her throat as she takes a step forward towards Penny. But Penny catches herself in time, giving Tobin a wobbly smile.

 

“Be careful, Penny!” Tobin calls out once she got her voice back. She continues to stand at the edge of the playground, not wanting to impose but wanting to be near enough in case Penny actually falls.

 

“Mommy, take a picture of me!” Penny calls to her, holding out her arms high above her head, cheesing it for the camera.

 

“Be careful, Penny,” Tobin says as she takes out her phone, a little surprised at how much time has passed when she glances at the time. She quickly flips to the camera and takes a couple of pictures of Penny, a little rushed as she just wanted Penny to stop standing atop that stupid structure. “Okay now get down before you give me a heart attack. We have to go to the store real quick to buy some ingredients for tomorrow.”

 

Penny giggles as she carefully climbs down before running to Tobin. “Did you see me climbing up the web like spiderman?”

 

“I did,” Tobin confirms as she helps Penny into the backpack. “You were so fast you looked like a blur. Maybe you should’ve been the Flash instead of Spiderman.

 

“I was fast, huh,” Penny agrees. “Instead of cupcakes, can we have slutty brownies?”

 

Tobin chokes on the saliva that she was trying to swallow, surprised at what came out of the little girl’s mouth. “Where did you hear that?”

 

“Auntie Emily said it was really delicious,” Penny says. Her brows knit together as she looks up at Tobin confused. “Did I say something wrong? Are they not called slutty brownies?”

 

Tobin tries to stifle the laugh that was about to come out of her mouth. “Uh no they’re called slutty brownies,” she chokes out. “But maybe we shouldn’t call it slutty brownies.”

 

“Is slutty a bad word?” Penny asks, confused at Tobin’s reaction.

 

“Uh, well, no,” Tobin says. “Not really, but it is a grown-up word.”

 

“Oh,” Penny says, frowning. “So what should we call the slutty brownies?”

 

“How about special brownies?” Tobin offers, trying to think if any other word would work, but really she couldn’t think of any other age-appropriate words. “Yeah, special brownies, work.”

 

“Okay,” Penny readily agrees. “So instead of cupcakes, can we make special brownies?”

 

“Yeah, for sure, dude,” Tobin says as she buckles Penny into her booster seat. “So, special brownies and that’s it?”

 

Penny nods. “And can we have ice cream for dinner?”

 

Tobin raises her eyebrow at her. “Don’t push your luck, kid.”

 

“I had to try,” Penny argues making Tobin laugh. Tobin drops a kiss on Penny’s forehead before she goes to the driver’s seat.

 

They pull into the local grocery store, grabbing the ingredients needed for Penny’s special brownies as well as ingredients for the chicken parm that Penny loves. Since it was a special occasion, Tobin grabs a pint of mint chocolate chip ice cream that Tobin loathes and Penny loves.

 

“Momma, can I ask you a question?” Penny asks as she sits on the stool, watching Tobin cook their dinner.

 

“You never have to ask me permission for that,” Tobin says as she puts the chicken parm in the oven. She stands up from the crouching position and turns to Penny. “Go ahead.”

 

Penny puts the crayon down and props her chin on her palm. “If I don’t make any friends tomorrow, can you send me back to Portland with Joey?”

 

“You’ll make friends tomorrow,” Tobin assures her.

 

“But what if I don’t?” Penny asks, worriedly. “What if they think I’m weird?”

 

“Well you are weird,” Tobin says, making Penny glare at her. “Don’t give me that stare. You’re weird, but that’s not a bad thing, Penny. And besides you’ll have your special brownies tomorrow, so you’ll make a lot of friends.”

 

“Really?” Penny asks and she can see the insecurities lying behind her green eyes.

 

“Really,” Tobin promises.

 

Penny lets out a little sigh as she slumps. “Okay,” she says.

 

“Now, c’mon, you wanna play chess before we eat?” Tobin asks.

 

“I always lose!” Penny complains, a no on the verge of her tongue.

 

“Hey, maybe this time you’ll win,” Tobin says as she grabs the board from one of the drawers and sets up the board.

-

-

-

Like Penny predicted she lost the first game and they took a small break to eat their dinner. Tobin convinced her to play another round after they ate. To Penny’s surprise and Tobin’s horror, Penny actually won, using her bishop to capture Tobin’s king when Tobin captured her rook.

 

“I won?” Penny says in disbelief as she looks down at the pieces. Her eyes were wide and her lips formed an o as her eyes keep flickering between the board and Tobin’s face.

 

“Yeah, you won!” Tobin says again as she sweeps Penny from the stool, twirling her around.

 

“I won!” Penny celebrates, her voice rising in volume and in pitch.

 

Tobin continues to twirl her around, ignoring the pang in her chest that Penny was growing up. “You know what that calls for?’

 

“What?” Penny asks as Tobin continues to twirl them. She taps Tobin, trying to get her to stop. “Mommy, stop, I’m getting dizzy.”

 

Tobin laughs but stops twirling them. “That calls for something special.”

 

“Doughnuts?!” Penny asks, her voice rising in pitch in excitement. Her face drops though when she realizes that most of the pastry shops nearby would be closed.

 

“We’ll stop by before your first day of school tomorrow,” Tobin tells her.

 

At the mention of school, Penny’s face drops even more. “Do I hafta go to school?” Penny huffs.

 

“I’m afraid so, Pennylane,” Tobin says. “You need to get that education or we can both go to jail.”

 

“I’d rather go to jail,” Penny complains.

 

“Well I don’t want to go to jail so you gotta go to school,” Tobin says as she starts walking up stairs with Penny still in her arms.

 

“You’re right,” Penny says. “You wouldn’t make it in jail.”

 

Tobin laughs as she opens the first door on their right. She drops Penny in the middle of the bathroom and points at the shower. “Now take a shower so that you’ll be clean for tomorrow.”

 

“Okay,” Penny agrees without much fuss. Penny loves the water, ocean, lake, bathtub, and even sink (she’s caught the little girl filling up the sink and sitting on it far too many times that she’s not surprised anymore). She strips out of her clothes and jumps into the bathtub, easily working the knobs.

 

Tobin peeks in to make sure the little girl is actually taking a shower and not just standing under the shower. She feels a smile flit to her face as she hears her childlike voice singing a song. She drops off the change of clothes and knocks at the curtain. “Pen, don’t forget your hair.”

 

“I know, mommy,” Penny calls back. She hears her puttering around the bathroom.

 

Tobin smiles and goes back to her room to get her camera equipment and gear ready for her first day of work tomorrow. She meticulously cleans each lens and made sure that she had enough memory card.

 

She hears the shower turn off from the other room and Penny wanders in her room, holding her brush and her stuffed kangaroo under one arm. Tobin feels a sudden twinge of pain and nostalgia at the sight of the kangaroo. Penny has had the kangaroo since she was a baby, going through everything with them from the most mundane to the most tragic.

 

“Mommy, brush my hair?’ Penny asks as she climbs the bed and sits in front of Tobin.

 

“Of course,” Tobin says as she pulls Penny into her lap. Tobin carefully pulls the brush through her curls, making sure she gets all the tangles in there.  “Do you wanna make the special brownies with me tomorrow?”

 

“Yeah,” Penny says, her voice was sleep-laden and Tobin can see her head drooping to her chest at each pass she makes with the brush.

 

Tobin ducks her head to see Penny sucking on the ear of the kangaroo, a sure sign that the little girl was ready to go to sleep.  “Do you want me to read you a story?” Tobin asks.

 

“No,” Penny says, surprising Tobin. But before Tobin can ask if she was sure, Penny continues. “Can you tell me a story about my mom and dad?”

 

“Oh,” Tobin says, startled. “Yeah of course.  Do you want to know the story of how they met or something else?”

 

“Something new,” Penny requests.Tobin has probably told Penny how her parents met a million times as a bedtime story.

 

Tobin thinks for a moment, humming as she continues to brush Penny’s hair. “Oh I know,” Tobin says. She pauses thinking of a way to start this new story. Tobin tries to think of stories that would be age appropriate for the six year old. “Did I ever tell you the story of how your dad proposed to your mom?”

 

Penny nods her head. “He didn’t propose. She did when they were on top of the Eiffel Tower because she thought he would never do it.”

 

Tobin grins at the memory of it. She received a call from Penny’s mom at 1 AM in the morning, telling her how she was going to throw up because of what she was supposed to do. Then she hung up abruptly sending Tobin into a panic. She receives a message later saying how they were engaged.

 

It feels like a lifetime ago with a vastly different Tobin. She was with Christen then and the problems that they had that showed up at the end of their relationship hasn’t manifested yet. She can still distinctly remember getting the message and letting her mind drift to the possibility of her and Christen actually reaching the same milestone.

 

She was about to tell the story when she looks down to see Penny was sound asleep, one hand clutching Tobin’s sleep shirt and the other clutching her kangaroo against her body. Tobin slides her hands underneath her body and lifts her into her arms.

 

Tobin tucks Penny into her bed, making sure that the kangaroo was in her arms, knowing that Penny can tends to wake up at night and the kangaroo provides comfort when she needs it. She gives her a kiss on the forehead. She makes sure the nightlight was plugged in before turning off the main light.

-

-

-

Penny usually wakes with the sun, unfortunately for Tobin. With the first day looming in the back of Penny’s mind, she not only woke up with the sun, but the moment the moon was out of the sky. She throws the cover off her body carefully places her kangaroo on top of her bed before she runs into Tobin’s room.

 

Penny jumps into Tobin’s bed, throwing herself on Tobin’s chest.

 

“Ooomph!” Tobin grunts as her eyes shoot open to see Penny’s green orbs staring back at her. She raises herself a bit to look at the clock, cringing when she sees the time displaying back at her.  “Penny,” Tobin groans at her.

 

“C’mon, mommy, it’s time to wake up,” Penny says. “We have to make the special brownies.”

 

Tobin groans and rolls over, taking the little girl with her, making sure not to put all her weight on her. “No, we can sleep for at least an hour more.”

 

“Mommy,” Penny gasps, her voice muffled. “Mommy…”

 

Tobin continues to ignore her, even though she can no longer go to sleep. She pretends to go back to sleep.

 

“Mommy!” Penny screams, pretending to choke. “I can’t breathe!”

 

Tobin rolls over again, letting Penny go.

 

“I’m just kidding,” Penny says when she turns over to look at Tobin.

 

“You were kidding?!” Tobin says, faux-aghast. She starts tickling the little girl. “I cannot believe you would lie to me!”

 

Penny gasps, pushing Tobin’s fingers away. “Sorry!”

 

“Sorry for what?” Tobin prods, continuing the tickle assault.

 

“Lying!” Penny says, gasping as she curls in on herself. “Mommy, stop!”

 

Tobin finally pulls back before scooping the little girl by the knees and heaving her over her shoulder. She walks both of them to the kitchen with Penny giggling as she swings back and forth. Tobin finally lets her go when they reach the stairs, laughing at her red face.

 

The doorbell rings, reverberating through the house. Tobin opens the door, confused as to who was going to visit them today.

 

“Happy first day of schoool!” There was a pop and Tobin watches the confetti flutter around them.

 

“Really?” Tobin asks, raising an eyebrow at Mal and Kelley who were holding a balloon bouquet as well as some more poppers.

 

“Where’s One Cent?’ Kelley asks looking over her shoulder, ignoring Tobin’s question.

 

“Hi, Aunt Kelley!” Penny greets running into Kelley’s arms. “What are you doing here?”

 

“I’m here to wish you luck!” Kelley says as she bumps her way into the room. “Here we got you balloons.”

 

“Mommy and I are going to make special brownies,” Penny says as they all file into the kitchen. “Thank you, Aunt Kelley.”

 

“You’re welcome, munchkin. Special brownies?” Kelley asks, stifling a laugh at the term because the only special brownie she knows of is the _special_ kind. Weed. She’s talking about weed brownies.

 

“Uh huh,” Penny nods as she pulls herself up on the stool. “Aunt Emily said it was called slutty brownies but momma said that that was a naughty word.”

 

“Brownies?” Mal says confused.

 

“Slutty,” Kelley says, flicking her on the ear.

 

Mal glares at Kelley as she rubs her ear.  “That actually hurt.”

 

“Don’t be a baby,” Kelley tells her.

 

“Yeah that word,” Penny says.

 

“We were going to go to get doughnuts,” Tobin tells them. Tobin nods to Penny. “Go get ready, Pen.”

 

“Okay,” Penny says as she takes the balloon bouquet upstairs.

 

“Doughnuts?’ Kelley asks. “Can we come with?”

 

“Yeah that’d be great actually,” Tobin says. “Allie and I usually take the girls out for breakfast for the first day of school,” she shrugs. “Something special but obviously it’d be different if it was just her and I there.”

 

Tobin’s phone ring and she looks down at it to see Allie’s face staring back at her. She swipes at the lock screen to answer it. “Hey, Har.”

 

“Hey, Har,” Allie says.

 

“Wormy!” Kelley says as she stands beside Tobin to look over the phone.

 

“Wormy!” Allie squeals back. “What are you doing there?’

 

“Just visiting One Cent for her first day and all,” Kelley says. “Where’s my goddaughter?’

 

Allie disappears for a moment and she comes back carrying Joey by her armpits. Allie drops her on the stool and lets her talk to Kelley until Penny comes down, dressed in her uniform and her new backpack on her back.

 

“Joey!” Penny screams upon seeing her friend on the screen. “Hi, Joey!”

 

“Hi, Penpen!” Joey yells back, waving.

 

“Aw, friendship,” Kelley says, watching the two tell stories and jokes only they can understand.

-

-

-

They seat themselves by the bar facing the window while Tobin grabs them the doughnuts. Kelley helps Penny onto her seat, making sure that she doesn’t slip. Kelley pounds on the top, yelling out barkeep.

 

Penny giggles and mimics her, also pounding on the tabletop. “Barkeep!”

 

“Alright Pennylane, don’t be rude now,” Tobin says as she puts the doughnuts in front of them.

 

“Thank you, mommy,” Penny says before digging into her doughnut with gusto.

 

“How’s Joey?” Tobin asks as she polishes off her doughnut.

 

Penny answers as she chews, making her words indistinguishable and muffled.

 

“Swallow first,” Tobin reminds her.

 

Penny obeys and takes a huge gulp of her water before answering. “Joey says she has a boyfriend. Can I have a boyfriend?”

 

Kelley and Mal laugh at the expression on Tobin’s face.

 

Tobin sends them a glare before answering, “Maybe when you’re older.”

 

“Like when I turn 9?”

 

“More like 30,” Tobin says as Kelley and Mal laugh try to stifle their laughter.

 

“Then you should have a girlfriend cause you’re like 30 times two!’ Penny counters.

 

Kelley and Mal couldn’t hold it any longer and starts laughing, doughnut crumbs flying from their mouths, their stomachs rolling

-

-

-

Christen pushes the door with her shoulders and drops the last of her boxes down in the living room. She turns back around and waits for Kelley to enter through her room before closing the door just as Kelley puts down the last box.

 

“Thanks for helping me move into my new apartment, Kell,” Christen says as she opens the box up.

 

“You promised me food,” Kelley reminds her as she drops herself on Christen’s couch.

 

“Uber is dropping off salads from that place that you like,” Christen says as starts putting away her stuff.

 

“Awesome!” Kelley says as she grabs the remote. She points it at the tv, waiting for it to turn on.

 

“I haven’t set the Apple TV up yet,” Christen informs her.

 

“Fine, I’ll do it,” Kelley groans as she rolls from the couch to the floor, not bothering to catch herself.

 

While Christen unpacks the last of her boxes, Kelley sets up the TV and Apple TV as well as her internet connection as she can’t really watch anything on the Apple TV unless there was a network.

 

“Hey, Chris?” Kelley calls as she sits next to the router, the instructions in her lap

 

“What?”

 

“Can I ask you a question?” Kelley asks and quickly adds, “And don’t say I already did.”

 

“I wasn’t going to,” Christen replies, rolling her eyes.

 

“Why the sudden change of heart?” Kelley asks. “Why move back? You seemed really happy in Germany.”

 

Just as Christen was about to answer, there was a knock on the door and Christen thanked her luck while Kelley curses hers.

 

“Hold that thought,” Christen says as she gets up to grab the food from UberEats.

 

She opens the door to Mal’s smiling face, holding the bags for the salads.

 

“Mal, you Uber?” Christen asks surprised.

 

“Dude, you’re allocated,” Kelley says, laughing.

 

Mal gives the bag of food to Christen, flipping Kelley off as she enters the apartment. “Very funny, but I saw the delivery dude with it and he was looking for your apartment so I told him I would deliver it for him. Dude was late for another delivery so he gave it up without a fight. ” She sits on the kitchen table, waiting for Christen to dole out the food. “You need any help, Chris?”

 

“Get your own,” Kelley says, flicking Mal on the ear.

 

“You gotta stop doing that!” Mal protests. “And I delivered it!”

 

Christen puts half of hers on the lid and gives it to Mal. She sits down at the empty chair next to Kelley. She turns to Mal and says with as much emphasis as she can, “Thanks, Mal, offering your services with no promise of food or anything else.”

 

“You’re the one that promised food!” Kelley argues as she eats her salad. “I would’ve done it if you didn’t lead with food.”

 

“Uh-huh, sure,” Christen says, with a teasing lilt.

-

-

-

Christen looks around her apartment, truly feeling like she was home and back where she belonged. True to her word, Mal actually helped out and unpacked the last of the boxes. She still had a couple of boxes that were coming in from Germany, but those weren’t the big things that she needed to make a space feel like she belongs.

 

Kelley flattens a box, jumping on it to make sure it was actually flat and hands it to Christen. “That’s the last of it,” she says. She looks around as if looking for someone, confused. “Did Mal leave already?”

 

“Yeah she left a couple of hours ago she said her roommates were home so she wanted to hang out with them,” Christen says.

 

“I can’t believe she ditched us,” Kelley says, offended.

 

Christen rolls her eyes. “Calm down. She wants to hang out with people her age.”

 

“We’re people her age,” Kelley says.

 

“We’re like ten years older than her,” Christen laughs. She pats Kelley on the back. “C’mon. You wanna go to the beach?”

 

“Ooh yes!” Kelley says. “You mind if we stop by Tobin’s house? I wanna pick up my surfboard.”

 

“Tobin’s house?”

 

“Yeah she let me keep it there,” Kelley says.  “Oh, One Cent might be there too. We can take her with us.”

 

They walk towards the beach and Kelley leads the way to Tobin’s house. They stop in front of a white house with white trim and fairly modern architecture.  A house that Christen passes by almost every morning when she goes to the beach for her morning yoga. She didn’t realize how close the lived by each other.

 

Kelley inputs a code and the garage opens. She immediately goes to the back of it where a vertical rack was installed. She grabs one of the boards just as the door opens and a small auburn head peeks out to see who was in her home.

 

“Hey, One Cent,” Kelley greets.

 

“Hi, Aunt Kelley!” Penny greets, stepping out. “Are you going to the beach? Can I come?”

 

“Yeah, go ask your babysitter,” Kelley says.

 

Penny cheers and goes back inside before coming out a second later with sunscreen on her face. “She said I can go!”

 

“Awesome!” Kelley says as they start walking back to where Christen was.

 

“Hi, Penny,” Christen greets when they stop in front of her.

 

“Hi, Christen!” Penny greets giving her a big hug and squeezing the life out of Christen. “Are you going to the beach with us too?”

 

“Of course,” Christen says. “I heard it was your first day of school. How was it?”

 

“Good, but mommy accidentally got me in trouble,” Penny says, shrugging.

 

“Ooh, what did Tobin do?” Kelley asks, wanting to know what else she can hold over Tobin.

 

“I got called to the principal’s office because of my special brownies,” Penny says, shrugging. “I dunno why. They were really good brownies.”

 

Christen laughs, knowing exactly why she was called in. “I’m sure they were very good brownies, Penny.”  Kelley was giggling, remembering the slutty brownies that Tobin renamed with another unfortunate alternate.

 

“Yeah she said that we shouldn’t bring weird food with weird names,” Penny tells them. “But I told her tater tots was a weird name because it sounds like we’re eating kids.”

 

Kelley laughs and high fives her. “Nice, Pen. But where did you hear that?”

 

“From Uncle Bati,” Penny answers. “Whenever he would give Joey and me tater tots, he says tots mean kids.” When Penny sees that they were finally at the beach, she runs ahead, towards the water to splash her feet in it. When her feet touch the waves, she squeals and runs back to where the adults were.

 

Christen spreads the beach blanket and Kelley drops her stuff next to Christen, stripping to her bikini bottoms and putting her rashguard on. Christen sits down and watches Kelley and Penny. Well, Penny more than Kelley. She didn’t need Tobin adding another reason for hating her if anything happened to Penny.

 

Penny was content to wade in the water, her eyes staring down at the water as she tries to find some shiny rocks that she can collect. She occasionally comes back to where Christen was to drop her findings, telling Christen each time to, “Keep it safe,” with as much of a stern voice that a 6-year-old can muster.

 

From time to time, Penny would also look to Kelley and call her. Whenever Kelley would turn back, Penny would wave to her. To Christen’s surprise, Penny looks back to her and does the same routine she would do with Kelley as well. Christen laughs as she waves at the younger girl.  On her third time doing this between her hunt for shiny rocks, Penny’s eyes light up and she starts sprinting.

 

Confused, Christen looks over her shoulder to see Tobin walking towards them. She hasn’t spotted Christen yet as it looked like she only had eyes for Penny.

 

“Mommy!” Penny yells as she throws herself into Tobin’s arms. “You’re back!”

 

“I am,” Tobin confirms as she hugs Penny. “How was school?”

 

Penny shrugs. “It was good! They liked my special brownies!”

 

“That’s great to hear,” Tobin says as she lets Penny down.

 

Penny grabs Tobin’s hand and tugs her towards where Christen was. “C’mon, Aunt Kelley and Christen are here.”

 

Christen watches as Tobin looks over to her and she feels her body react almost instantly as if the distance was never gone and the past two years never happened.

 

“Hi,” Christen greets softly.

 

“Hey,” Tobin nods at her as she sits on the edge of the blanket not wanting to encroach on Christen’s space.

 

When it looked like her mother was settling in with Christen fine, Penny decides to go back to playing in the water and watching her aunt at the same time, hoping that the two adults would talk.

-

-

-

They let the sound of the waves breaking against the shore to fill the void between them. Christen was hesitant to start conversation, not wanting to bring up any bad memories or conversations that they had. She finds it funny that she can’t talk to her now but when they were dating they talked about anything and everything from her deepest insecurities about the national team to what kind of music do dogs like, if they like rap or soft rock.

 

Christen was so focused on thinking of not saying the wrong thing that Tobin’s touch on her arm, startles her that she jerks her arm back as if she’s been burned. She meets Tobin’s eyes who looks a little hurt at her reaction.

 

Christen smiles at her, gingerly. “Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.”

 

At this, the hurt expression on her face was gone and she gives Christen a teasing smile. “Stuck in your head as usual?”

 

Christen reddens at her assessment but she nods. Many incorrectly assume that Christen grounds Tobin, but it’s usually the other way around. Christen was usually the one that had to be pulled out of her head and into the moment. She tended to overthink things and Tobin was there to stop those thoughts from becoming detrimental to their days.

 

“Same ol’ Christen,” Tobin says as her eyes drift back to the shore.

 

Christen resists the urge to roll her eyes at the comment. “You’re not the same old Tobin.”

 

Tobin smiles, a bit nostalgically and bitterly. Her words remind her of the last thing they talked about before they broke up “Yeah...I guess having a kid changes you.”

 

“Penny’s a great kid,” Christen says as she watches Penny run up and down the shore, waving at Kelley trying to get her attention.

 

“She is,” Tobin agrees. She laughs when she sees Penny get taken down by a wave. Penny comes up sputtering but continues to play with the water. But this reminded her of another memory from another lifetime that had her laughing again.

 

Christen looks at Tobin like she was crazy, but couldn’t help but chuckle at her contagious laugh. Tobin looks over to Christen and at her bewildered expression laughs harder.

 

“What’s so funny?” Christen asks.

 

“Remember-” Tobin stops lost in the memory as she continues to laugh. She takes a deep breath and tries again. “-that one time we went to the beach with Morena and Khaleesi and we were throwing the ball into the water for Khaleesi to chase? When she came running back a wave caught her and hurled her straight through you and took you out,” Tobin’s words came out in a pile as she tries to stop her laughter so she can finish the story.

 

Christen’s felt her face redden again at the embarrassing moment but laughs as well. She didn’t expect to go in the water that day but she got taken down by her dog and ended up having to strip down to just her underwear. “You didn’t think it was funny back then,” she counters.

 

Tobin felt her breath hitch as she remembers that they almost didn’t make it home that day, but managed to between the kisses. “No I thought it was funny back then,” she says. There was a pause and she asks. “So how are you?”

 

“I’m okay,” Christen says as she props her chin on her knees.

 

“Germany did you well,” Tobin says as she lets her eyes roam her body, pausing at her face. Her eyes look older now with laugh lines surrounding her eyes and the ever-present uncertainty was no longer there.  “You look good.”

 

“Germany helped me,” Christen says. “Being away was brutal…”

 

“Is that why you’re back?” Tobin asks. She gestures to her body. “You couldn’t stay away from this banging body for too long.”

 

This time Christen did roll her eyes and bumps Tobin with her shoulder. “No,” well part of it _was_ ,“ Germany helped me realized that soccer was just a game and there were more important things in life.”

 

Their eyes meet and Tobin can see the sincerity behind them. “I guess we’re not the same people we were back then huh?”

 

“I guess not,” Christen says. “Time tends to do that.”

-

-

-

Penny buries her toes in the sand, letting the water lap at her feet. Her eyes squint as she watches Tobin and Christen on the shore, they were still a good distance from each other. Penny pouts at the distance.

 

 _Why do adults have to make things so hard?_  

 

She turns back to her Aunt Kelley to see what she was doing. She panics when she sees Kelley climbing out of the water. Penny rushes to her, clasping her arms around Kelley and digging her foot in the sand.

 

“No, Aunt K!”

 

“Pen, what’s wrong?” Kelley asks as she puts the board down. She grabs Penny by the shoulder and pushes her away so she can inspect her. “What’s going on?”

 

“Don’t go back there?”

 

“Why not?” Kelley asks, before she looks to where she knew Christen was and sees that Tobin has joined them.

 

Penny follows Kelley’s eyes to see Tobin and Christen, facing each other, a smile on their lips as they talk with each other.

 

Surprisingly the two of them seemed to be having a good time as they were talking.

 

Penny can feel her heart fluttering in excitement at what she sees.

 

“I see you’re up to your old tricks, Pennylane,” Kelley says as she watches Penny’s eyes light up watching Christen and her mother.

 

Penny looks up at Kelley and says, “You gotta stay here! We can’t interrupt them!”

 

Kelley looks down at Penny’s wide pleading eyes and sighs. “Fine,” Kelley says as she picks up Penny. “Wanna go in the water?”

 

Penny squeals excitedly, nodding. “Yeah!”

 

Kelley runs into the water making Penny squeal harder when the waves hit her a little too roughly. Later on, Kelley places Penny on her surfboard as they paddle around the water before they interrupted what seems to be a staring contest between the two.

-

-

-

Tobin sighs as she climbs into her bed after a long day at the beach. They ended up staying longer than expected. They were there until the sun set and Penny was complaining of having to do homework to Tobin’s surprise. Surprisingly, after the unexpected conversation with Christen they ended things on a happier note. She supposes it has to do with Penny being the buffer between the two of them.

She swipes through the apps on her phone, answering text messages, checking emails and playing a couple of games to help her wind down. She opens the Photos app on her phone, wanting to relieve a pretty much a perfect week in her book. She swipes through the various photos of in her phone.

 

Smiling at the photos of Penny in the beach, running around and just being her goofy self. Much to her mirth, there was a couple of photos of Penny and Christen. It was probably Penny’s doing as she loves being around Christen and wanting to document everything they do together (she pushes away the twinge of jealousy at Penny’s current obsession). There was picture of Penny from her first day of school, cheesing it for the camera. She saves that one to her favorite.

 

At one point in her phone she hits the photo that tells her she’s gone too far back in the past and usually, Tobin uses this as a sign to go to sleep, but for the first time in almost two years. She keeps going.

 

Most of it was just Christen by herself, looking off into the distance contemplating about life (or something as equally serious)  like she tends to do or the rare funny poses that had her looking at the camera and pulling a funny face. Those rare ones were her absolute favorite. Christen would always get mad at her for saving them and Tobin always had to show her that she was deleting them (but really later on, Tobin goes to the Recently Deleted folder and restores them back, much to Christen’s annoyance).

 

The bittersweet feeling that often hits her when she used to do this binges wasn’t there. Instead there was a positive feeling that she couldn’t identify. It didn’t hurt her heart to look at the old photos of them together (or really Christen’s photos). She wasn’t sure if it was the interaction at the beach that turned the feeling around, but she wasn’t questioning it.

 

After thirty minutes of looking through the photos, Tobin closes the photos app and puts her phone underneath her pillow as if she can intensify those memories dancing in her head by having the phone right under her head.


	6. six

Luke throws the flower petals in the air, laughing gleefully as the petals flutter around him and his friends.

 

“Luke, you’re not supposed to do that!” Odette, a no-nonsense a 6-year-old with great bright green eyes and curly black hair, screams angrily, stomping over to Luke and grabbing the basket. “You’re not the flower boy, you’re the husband!”

 

Luke turns to Penny who was sitting on the grass watching the two bicker. “Ew, I don’t wanna marry Penny.”

 

Penny sticks her tongue out at him. “Well, I don’t want to marry you!”

 

“Guys, come on!” Amy calls to the three six-year-olds from the door, breaking up the fight that was about to ensue. “I have your snacks ready!”

 

They abandon the mock altar, Luke throwing the flowers in the air again before he runs after the two girls into their house. They sit around a small table that Amy had set out earlier, greedy little hands already grabbing at the orange and apple slices that Amy had put down.

 

Amy looks up from cleaning up the counter when she hears the door open and Ryan runs inside with Adam in tow. “Hey, love,” Amy greets.

 

Luke looks up to see his dad and brother entering the room and leaves the two girls, opting instead to give his brother a hug.

 

“Hi, Ry!” Luke screams directly into his ear, relieved to have another boy there with him.

 

“Get off me, Luke!” Ryan yells, shaking his brother off, before stomping off upstairs.

 

Luke looks downtrodden for a bit before his father scooped him up, giving him kisses on the cheek to lift his spirits a bit.

 

“Hi, buddy,” Adam greets. She goes to Amy and drops a kiss on her cheek before turning to greet the other two. “Hey, guys.”

 

“Hi, Mr. Shilling,” Odette says at the same time Penny says, “Hi, Uncle A-rod!”

 

Adam laughs as he drops Luke back in his chair and he goes back to Amy, leaning over. “She does know my name is Adam right?”

 

Amy laughs. “Of course she does. She just knows how much it annoys you so she keeps doing it.” Amy gestures with her eyes to the stairs. “Hey, what’s up with Ryan?”

 

“I said he couldn’t have a video game unless he brought his grade in history up,” Adam says, “and now he’s giving me the silent treatment.”

 

Amy nods and whispers, leaning back against Adam’s front. “Is it weird that you acting all tough on him is really turning me on right now?”

 

“Meet you upstairs in ten minutes?” Adam says as he pulls back.

 

“Where are you guys going in ten minutes?” Penny asks, looking up at them.

 

“Damn it!” Amy whispers.

 

“Nowhere now, sweetie,” Ryan says as he puts an arm around his wife. “Why don’t you guys go play again outside?”

 

“Okay,” Odette shrugs, grabbing Luke by the arm and dragging him outside.

 

Penny continues standing by them, not wanting to leave yet. She had many questions that she wanted to be answered.  

 

Adam, not noticing that Penny was still in the room, grabs Amy by the hips. “Where were we?”

 

“I’m still here, Uncle Arod,” Penny says, startling the two adults.

 

“Ah!” Adam screams, pulling away from Amy. He sighs and drops a kiss on Amy’s hair. “I’m going to go see what Ryan is up to!”

“Hey, Penny,” Amy says. “Everything okay?”

 

“I have a very important questions,” Penny says as she perches on the stool. She puts her chin in her hand and stares at Amy.

 

“Hit me,” Amy says.

 

“Where did Uncle Adam take you on your first date?” Penny asks.

 

Amy stops, an involuntary smile tugging at her lips as she recalls the memory. “Well, it was actually my birthday-” she stops short, knowing she can’t really tell Tobin’s daughter that it was her birthday and he took her out on the only place open at three in the morning after they’ve hooked up at a party. “And he took me out to a restaurant.”

 

“Where did you guys go?” Penny asks.

 

“Uh...well…” Amy tries to think of the name of the restaurant that they went to, but she almost didn’t even remember anything that night let alone a name of some throwaway restaurant, “Olive Garden!”

 

Penny nods, taking notes in her head. There’s an Olive Garden nearby and it was one of her favorite restaurants. Penny tries to think of a way to get both Christen and her mother there but she was stumped. Penny reaches up and wraps her arms around Amy’s waist, squeezing it. “Thanks, Auntie Arod!”

 

She runs back outside and joins Odette and Luke in playing house.

-

-

-

She hears the footsteps of Tobin returning from her bedroom and Penny looks at the address, memorizing it before she completely turns off the computer, unsure how to just exit the browser. She clambers up to her chair, her heart racing at the thought of being caught by Tobin.

 

“You okay, bud?” Tobin asks the little one, concerned as Penny was breathing rather heavily, almost to the point of hyperventilating. She crouches in front of Penny, forcing the little girl to look at her. “Pen?”

 

Penny takes a deep breath and gives Tobin a big toothy smile. “I’m fine!” she says.

 

Tobin examines her for a moment.

 

Penny pushes against her, insisting. “I’m fine, mommy.”

 

Tobin sighs and shakes her a little, dramatically yeling, knowing that it would make her giggle. “Are you sure?!”

 

Penny giggles and nods. “I’m fine!”

 

Tobin smiles, tickling her. “Good.”

 

“Are we going to go soon?” Penny asks as she grabs a crayon from the pile. Her tongue sticks out at the edge of her mouth as she continued to color the dinosaur coloring book that Emily had gotten her. She’s been obsessed with it ever since.

 

“Yeah,” Tobin says as she moves the mouse to wake the computer up. She looks at it confused that it wouldn’t turn on. “Aw shit.”

 

“Mommy!” Penny gasps. “You said a bad word!”

 

“You didn’t hear anything,” Tobin says, narrowing her eyes at the little girl.

 

Penny gives her a big grin, a little menacing, to be honest, a stark contrast to how innocent the conniving kid usually looks. “Does that mean I get a new toy? I talked to grandma yesterday…”

 

Tobin rolls her eyes. “Fine! Fine! We’ll stop by the toy store later.”

 

Penny fist pumps and shakes her head at Tobin as she gets up from her chair to go to her room. “You’re so easy sometimes.”

 

Tobin playfully whacks her butt as she walks by. “Go get ready!”

 

She grabs her phone and opens the app to the messages. She goes to the conversation thread she had with Stacy, surprised that she had a message waiting for her.

 

 _Hey Tobin, I can’t meet you today. Raincheck?_ It read.

 

Tobin sighs as she texts back a reply, _Yeah for sure. Just text me when you want to meet again._

 

She knows their relationship is a bit complicated, seeing as she was her ex’s mother and their relationship should’ve ended when her relationship with Christen have ended. But after 6 years, it was a hard transition for both of them.

 

She goes to her contacts and presses on Kelley’s number before lifting the phone to her ear, listening to it ring three times before Kelley answers. “Hey, Kell!’

 

“What do you want?” Kelley immediately asks, suspicious that something was up as Tobin called her rather than texting her.

 

Tobin scoffs. “Really? I can’t just be calling my friend to see how she’s doing and what she’s doing and-”

 

“Stop you’re babbling!” Kelley interrupts. “It’s a yes to whatever it is.”

 

“Awesome!” Tobin says. She quickly explains the situation, leaving out the part that she and Penny are going to hang out with her ex-girlfriend’s mother (something that they’ve done almost monthly. “Should I drop her off at your place then?”

 

Kelley grumbles, but nods before realizing that Tobin can’t see her. “Yeah that’s fine,” she confirms. “You still have your key?”

 

“Yeah,” Tobin says as she feels a tug on the back of her shirt. She turns around to see Penny with her backpack and her stuffed kangaroo under one arm. “Alright, I’ll see you then.”

“Was that Grandma Stacy?” Penny asks.

 

“About that,” Tobin says as she crouches in front of Penny. “I have some bad news and some good news. Which one do you want first?”

 

Penny thinks about it for a moment, her forefinger tapping against her cheek as she weighs out the pros and cons of it. “The bad news,” she says, nodding her head, decisively.

 

“We can’t go see Grandma Stacy,” Tobin says, watching Penny’s eyes widen and fill with tears.

 

“Why can’t we see Grandma Stacy?” Penny asks, her voice bordering on a whine and a cry.

 

“Well she’s busy sweetheart,” Tobin explains. “We’ll see her another time.”

 

Penny continues to pout and Tobin can see the tears were ready to spill out. “What about we go to Chuck E. Cheese this weekend? Will that help?”

 

Penny shakes her head, her eyes downcast.

 

“Well we can do whatever you want this weekend,” Tobin says, wanting to take away the despondent mood that seemed to grip Penny. “I promise!”

 

As if those were the magic words, her eyes were no longer wide and wet; like those words made her tears recede. Tobin didn’t know whether or not to be proud of the fact that Penny was a good actress. “Okay, let’s go!” Penny says as she skips ahead to their garage.

 

Tobin sighs in relief at having avoided a meltdown as she follows Penny to the garage.

-

-

-

Kelley opens the door to an apologetic Tobin and a widely grinning Penny. She steps aside and let the two in. Penny immediately drops her backpack by the sofa and grabs a controller from the Switch, putting on her favorite game.

 

“Kids and technology amaze me,” Tobin mutters as she and Kelley watch Penny from the door. “Don’t you feel incredibly stupid sometimes?”

 

“No, that’s all you,” Kelley says. “So what time will you pick the munchkin up?”

 

“Two hours or so?” Tobin says, patting her camera bag. “This shoot shouldn’t take that long.”

 

Kelley observes her for a moment. She still looks like the same Tobin that she’s been friends with for almost 20 years, except the laugh lines were deeper and her hair was darker. There was a journey marked across her face in the form of a scar that Kelley knows she usually covers up, except today.  “Hey, Tobs, how’s retirement going for you?”

 

Tobin shrugs. She didn’t want to open her mouth because she was still unsure if this was the right decision for her.

 

“Mommy’s bored,” Penny pipes up as their heads snap to Penny, who didn’t even look up from the TV.

 

“You’re bored?”

 

“Traitor!” Tobin calls to Penny, who just waves her hand at her as if waving away her outburst.

 

“You’re bored?” Kelley asks again.

 

“I’m not-”

 

“Mommy, you tried building a treehouse two weeks ago,” Penny quips as she kneels on the sofa, her hands underneath her chin. “And you failed.”

 

“You said you wanted a clubhouse!” Tobin defends herself, holding up her hands, palm-side up.

 

“I was talking about a fort!”

 

Kelley guffaws, holding her stomach.

 

“You, stop talking!” Tobin says pointing her finger at Penny. “And you, stop laughing!”

 

“Dude, your kid just threw you under the bus!”

 

“I’m going to go!” Tobin says, walking towards the door, flipping Kelley off, making Kelley laugh harder.

 

Penny pauses her game and kneels on the couch, putting her arms on the back of the couch to stare at Kelley.

 

Kelley nods as she ruffles Penny’s hair. “Your momma’s fine. She’s just...growing up.”

 

“That’s what she says about you,” Penny says as she drops back down and turns back to the game. “Can you help me with Mario?”

 

“Sure thing, chicken wing,” Kelley says as she grabs the other controller.  “By the way, we’re going to go see Press in a couple of minutes. I told her I would help her assemble her new desk.”

 

Penny gasps and her eyes widen as she stares at Kelley as if she just gave her the best present.

 

Kelley laughs as she reaches over and ruffles her hair again. “You and your obsession with Press is so funny, kid.”

 

“Can we go now?” Penny asks, pausing the game again. She stands up, her excitement getting the best of her as she starts jumping on the couch and her sentence becoming one long word, “ _canwegonow?canwegonow?canwegonow?”_

 

“Alright, jeeze!” Kelley says as she grabs Penny by the waist and starts tickling her.

 

“Stooop!!” Penny yells out screaming.

 

“No more monkeys jumping on the bed!” Kelley says as she continues to tickle her.

 

“No more monkeys!” Penny gasps out as she squirms trying to get away from Kelley. “I swear!”

 

Kelley stops and rights her up. “Let me text her and see if she’s home.”

 

**KOH [1:54]: Hey you back with ur new furniture?**

 

**CP23 [1:56]: Yeah just got home.**

 

**KOH [1:57]: Cool. coming over.**

 

Kelley locks her phone and pockets it. She grabs her keys off the counter, ushering Penny to the front so that they can leave. Kelley decides to take her limited tool bag that had a hammer, two screwdrivers (that had different heads) and for some reason, a granola bar, hoping that she could at least help Christen with this.

-

-

-

Kelley didn’t even bother knocking and uses her key to get into Christen’s apartment, steering Penny into the living room, knowing that Penny will bolt into the apartment to “explore” if she lets her. She didn’t spot Christen bustling around in the kitchen, but she can hear faint sounds coming from down the hall.

 

“Chris?!” Kelley calls out to make sure it was her.

 

“Yeah?!” She hears Christen shout back.

 

“We’re here!”

 

Christen comes out from her bedroom, tying her hair up into a bun. Her eyes widen momentarily at the sight of Penny in her house before she gives them a big grin.

 

“Hi, Christen!” Penny greets, rushing forward and enveloping Christen in a hug.

 

“Hey, Pen,” Christen greets as she rubs her back. “Are you here to help me and Kelley assemble furniture?”

 

“Yeah! I know how to use a screwdriver!” Penny says, motioning with her hands. “Mommy taught me!” She looks around the living room, trying to find the tell-tale sign of a packed Ikea furniture. “Where is it?”

 

“Oh it’s still in the car,” Christen says.

 

“C’mon, let’s take it out,” Kelley says as she starts walking out to the car with Christen following close behind.  “Wanna help, One Cent?”

 

“I’ve got muscles!” Penny says as she runs ahead of the two older women to help lift the furniture.

-

-

-

Kelley blows a wisp of her hair away from her face, looking at the pieces of wood lying in front of her and the instructions right next to them. Christen bought a desk and a chest of drawers. Kelley volunteered to work on the drawer while Christen and Penny worked on the desk. Guess who’s still working on assembling her assigned furniture?

 

“You need any help?” Christen asks for at least the third or fifth time in the past 30 minutes.

 

“No, Press, I got this,” Kelley snaps before she turns back to the unassembled drawer that’s been giving her a headache.

 

Christen looks taken aback for a second but she didn’t let it get to her, knowing Kelley’s tendencies when she gets frustrated. She goes back to the kitchen where Penny was munching on some cookies that Christen had baked earlier in the week.

 

“Enjoying the cookies, Pen?” Christen asks.

 

Penny nods her head and starts speaking, but with her mouthful, Christen couldn’t help but laugh at her attempts.

 

“Swallow first,” Christen orders her.

 

Penny swallows the cookie and takes a couple of sips of her drink. “Do you have any plans on Saturday?”

 

“Uh not that I know of,” Christen says. “Why?”

 

“Wanna have lunch with my mom and I? It’s my birthday!” Penny invites, giving Christen the best puppy dog eyes that she can muster. “It’ll be really fun if you were there!”

 

Christen looks torn for a second. She didn’t want to say no to Penny, but hanging out with her ex wasn’t exactly at the top of her list, even if they ended on good terms on that impromptu hang out at the beach.

 

“Are Kelley and Mal invited too?” Christen asks, hoping that they were. They could act as a buffer and she doesn’t have to feel weird going to the party.  Since it was Penny’s birthday, they had to be.

 

“No!” Penny says. The word came out so quick that Christen raises her eyebrow at Penny, surprised. “It’s a special lunch for mommy and me. You can’t tell them because they’ll be really jealous and I don’t want them to be jealous.”

 

"Then are you sure your mom is okay with me crashing it? It's your special lunch?"

 

"Yeah!" Penny says, so nonchalantly that Christen was sure that it was okay. 

 

She can see Kelley and Mal acting rather childish when it comes to things like this. “Where are we eating?”

 

Penny’s devious mind rejoices at the fact that her plan is working (hard to believe for her). Penny gives her a smile that Christen was a little bit afraid of. “Olive Garden.”

 

They hear a loud thud from the living room before they hear Kelley let out a stream of curses that had Christen wanting to cover Penny’s ears, cringing.

 

“Kelley little ears!”

 

“Fuck that! It hurts!” Kelley groans as she sucks on her thumb.

 

Penny looks up at Christen, giving her a reassuring smile. “It’s okay, Christen. Auntie Kelley says curses are a form of passion.”

 

“Yeah see?” Kelley says as she looks down at her thumb, poking at it. “And what are we?”

 

“Passionate people!” Penny answers as if they do this every day.

 

Christen reaches over and slaps Kelley upside the head.

 

“OW!” Kelley whines. “I’m already injured!”

 

“It’s okay, Auntie Kelley, I’ll help!” Penny says as she reaches over to grab Kelley’s hand. She hugs it to her, chest, crushing it, making Kelley groan in pain. Penny leans down and kisses her injured hand. “Did that help?”

 

“Yeah,” Kelley groans as she pulls her hand back. She gives Penny a smile to not alarm her, but it looked like the face she makes whenever she drinks spoiled chocolate milk and Penny tells her that.

 

Christen laughs. “Hey, sweetheart, can you get my first aid kit?”

 

Penny readily agrees, getting up and running down the hallway to Christen’s bathroom to get the first aid kit.

 

“I feel like this is karma,” Christen murmurs.

 

“Karma for what?!” Kelley cries as Penny returns, clutching the bag against her chest.

 

“Stop being a big baby,” Christen says, laughing at her.

 

“Yeah Aunt Kelley stop being a baby,” Penny echoes as she gives Christen the bag. “Do you want me to kiss it to make it all better?”

 

Penny’s innocent sincere question made Christen laugh harder as she tends to Kelley’s small wound.

-

-

-

Tobin pulls up into Kelley’s street, carefully maneuvering her car through the narrow street that should really just be a one-way. She parks right behind Kelley’s car instead of just calling Kelley to bring Penny to her.

 

To her surprise, when the door opens, it was Penny who was standing on the other side and not Kelley.

 

“Where’s your aunt Kelley?” Tobin asks as she walks inside, quickly looking around. She stifles a laugh as she sees Kelley passed out on the couch with cat whiskers all over her face. “Penny, what did you do?”

 

“She had markers,” Penny defends herself. "I was bored!"

 

“Go grab a towel and wet it with water,” Tobin says, trying to be stern, but the way her voice wavers as she tries to stifle a laugh assures Penny that she’s really not in trouble.

 

While Penny goes to the kitchen to grab the things Tobin asked for, Tobin crouches beside Kelley and shakes her a bit to try to wake her up. When Kelley didn’t budge, Tobin grabs a large heavy book that Kelley leaves on the coffee table for some light reading and bangs it against the coffee table, making Kelley shriek and roll off the couch.

 

“Ow!” Kelley whines as she hits the table. She sits up and glares at Tobin, who was holding her stomach, laughing.

 

“Don’t-” Tobin gasps, trying to catch her breath. “Don’t you mean meow?”

 

“What?” Kelley asks, confused as the fog of sleepiness was still wreaking havoc on her brain. She was even more confused when Penny comes back from the kitchen, holding a wet rag and carrying a bowl of water. “What did you do?”

 

“Your face was a canvas!” Penny defends.

 

Kelley looks alarmed as she searches through the couch for her phone. She holds it up to her face, using the screen as a mirror.

 

“You’re a very cute kitty,” Penny says, sheepishly, unsure if Kelley was going to yell at her for going ham on her face.

 

Kelley turns her head to the left and again to the right, her eyes never leaving her reflection. “I like my purple nose,” Kelley says.

 

Penny sighs in reliefs and walks forward with the rag and bowl. “Here you go, Auntie KO.” She puts the bowl down on the coffee table and sits next to Kelley, handing her the washcloth.  “Do you like your whiskers?”

 

“Yeah, the rainbow whiskers really gives me flair, you know?” Kelley says as she drags the washcloth around her face, erasing her masterpiece. “Next time make me look like a puppy.” She says, bopping Penny on the nose. “Now, do me a favor?”

 

“Uh-huh,” Penny says, nodding her head, standing up straighter on the couch. She loves it when the adults give her jobs/chores to do.

 

“Can you wash this bowl and put this rug in the sink?” Kelley asks.

 

“Okay!” Penny says cheerfully, skipping to the kitchen, spilling water everywhere.

 

Kelley opens her mouth to call after her, but she changes her mind and turns to Tobin.

 

“And get your stuff ready!” Tobin calls after Penny. She hears a faint _Okay_.

 

“Hey, so I gotta cancel our surf sess for Saturday because my lunch is going to be busy that day.”

 

“Aw,” Kelley pouts. “We haven’t hung out in ages, Tobin!”

 

“You can come with us,” Tobin offers.

 

Kelley was about to say yes when she sees Penny in the back, frantically mouthing _NO_ and shaking her head. “No?” she says, confused.

 

“Uh, I’m asking you,” Tobin says, looking behind her to see Penny standing there looking far too innocent.

 

“Uh, no, it’s okay,” Kelley says as Penny nods her head in approval. Kelley stifles a laugh, albeit she was a little confused as to why Penny would not want her favorite Aunt (don’t listen to Emily! She is the favorite Aunt!) there.

 

Tobin shrugs. “Alright. So two weekends from then?”

 

Kelley nods her head. “Yeah, that sounds good.

  
  


“So what did you guys do today?’ Tobin asks. “Sorry, I didn’t expect the shoot to run that long.”

 

“It’s fine,” Kelley says, dismissing her concerns. “You know I don't mind hanging out with One Cent.”

 

“So what did you guys do?” Tobin asks again.

 

“We helped Ms. Press with her furniture,” Penny says as she appears at the top of the stairs, her backpack on her back and her stuffed kangaroo underneath one arm. “It was fun and Auntie Kelley hit herself with a hammer!”

 

Tobin laughs. “Dude, get a new hammer. That thing is so unbalanced!”

 

“And you would know this failed Ms. Treehouse builder?”

 

“Whatever!” Tobin says, rolling her eyes. “At least I didn’t injure myself!”

 

“It was like a small bruise!” Penny chimes in, giggling as she demonstrates with her hands how small this thing exactly was.

 

“Alright, I’m going!” Kelley says, standing up and heading to her room. “I am not just going to stand here to get roasted by a 6-year-old!”

 

“Where are you going? This is your house!” Tobin calls after her. Kelley just raises her hand and flips her off.  Penny laughs beside Tobin, clutching her stomach. Tobin nudges Penny. “C’mon let’s go apologize!”

 

Penny nods and takes off running, launching herself against Kelley’s leg. “I love you, Auntie KO!”

 

“I love you too, pipsqueak,” Kelley says as she rubs her back.

 

“Am I forgiven?” Penny asks as she pulls away.

 

Kelley nods. “Of course!”

 

“What about me, Auntie Kelley?” Tobin asks, mockingly.

 

“Fuck no!” Kelley says, rolling her eyes. “Now, shoo! Get outta of my house. I’m going to FaceTime with Sonnett soon.”

 

“Bow chicka wow-wow,” Tobin teases. “Alright, we’re going to go then. Have fun with Sonnett.” Tobin places a hand on Penny’s shoulder to steer her towards the living room.

 

“I wanna say hi to Auntie Sonny too!” Penny says, looking back at Tobin.

 

Tobin laughs. “Trust me, kid, you don’t. Now let’s go home. There’s a chocolate ice cream cake with your name on it.”

-

-

-

When Saturday comes, Penny wakes up with a frantic need to start moving. She wants everything to be perfect for this lunch, or her mother’s first date in a long time (a _long_ time). She grabs her piggy bank, popping the bottom, and shaking the thing as much as her little arms could. She stuffs the money in her backpack.  She goes to the fridge and uses the letters to write out a note to Tobin before she grabs her backpack and starts her trek to the flower shop nearby.

 

She looks around the small flower shop that she’s only been into once (and that was when Kelley had to buy some flowers for Sonnett) and immediately goes to the section with the most extravagant, lavish, and eye-catching flower arrangement in her mind. She inspects each bouquet until she sees one that she thought was a perfect arrangement of flowers.

 

Penny looks up to see a woman that was behind the counter when she first entered the shop walking towards her, a friendly smile on her face.

 

“Well, hello there, sweetheart,” The woman greets. Her voice was high-pitched and reminds Penny one of the Princesses that Odette likes to watch. “My name is James. What can I get for you?”

 

“Can I get those,” Penny says, pointing at the flower arrangement that she had in mind. “My mommy’s going on a date tonight!”

 

“Does your mommy know you’re here?” she asks, confused as to why a parent would send their six-year-old child to buy flowers.

 

“No,” Penny says. She crooks her finger at the woman. She acquiesces and leans down so that Penny can whisper in her ear. “It’s a secret. My mommy doesn’t know she’s going on a date.”

 

“Is it like a blind date?”

 

“What’s a blind date?’ Penny asks, never having heard the term before.

 

“Well, it’s when two grownups go on a date, but they don’t know the other one,” she explains.

 

Penny thinks for a moment, her finger going to her dimple. “No,” she says. “It’s not a blind date. It’s more like a surprise date!”

 

“Oh,” she says, surprised and unsure of how to respond to that. Instead, she turns to a subject she does know. “So you want these flowers?”

 

“Uh-huh,” Penny says as she reaches into her backpack, moving things around until she found her money. She sits down on the ground and starts counting her money. She looks up when she’s finished, giving the woman the most charming smile she can pull (her aunt Alex says no one can resist her smile). “I have seven dollars and twenty-three- no wait that’s a skittle-” Penny picks it up and eats it, “-twenty-two cents. Is that enough?”

 

“I have a better one,” James says as she helps Penny stand up. She didn’t want to see the disappointment that would be written across the girl’s face when she hears the price of that particular arrangement. “You don’t want those for a first date.”

 

“I don’t?”

 

“No,” James says. “That’s too lavish for a first date. You want something simple and romantic. Something that won’t scare her date, but it’ll give her the butterflies, you know?”

 

Penny nods, soaking up this advice. Truthfully, Penny has no idea what she’s talking about but she’ll take anything if that means this date would be a success. She trails behind James, her eyes jumping from the different flowers that were on display that she runs right at James’s legs when she unexpectedly stops in front of her.

 

“Here we are,” James says as she plucks a single sunflower, the largest, vibrant, yellow sunflower from the barrel. She hands the flower to Penny so that she can see it up close. “What do you think?”

 

“It’s very pretty,” Penny admits as she fingers the petals and runs a finger through the disk flower. “I’ll take it! How much can I get for seven dollars?”

 

“How about this,” James says, turning back to her stock of sunflowers and picking two more. “I’ll give you this for free if you come back here after the date-”

 

“Yes! I’ll come back!” Penny says quickly.

 

“With your mom and tell me what happens, alright?” she bargains.

 

“Yes,” Penny promises. “I’ll come back.”

 

James smiles and they go to the front counter so that James can wrap the sunflower up. She puts a little more filler flowers so that it looks as gorgeous as one of the more high-end arrangement. She presents it to Penny with a little flair to make the girl giggle.

 

“Thank you so much!” Penny says as she takes off running back to her house, feeling like she was on a high.

-

-

-

When Tobin wakes up from her alarm instead Penny jumping on the bed or prying her eyes open, she immediately realized that something was wrong. She feels her stomach lodge in her throat and her heart thumps faster as her worry intensifies. She throws the covers off her body and runs downstairs to see if she was just imagining things and Penny was actually just watching Big Hero 6 for the 80th time.

 

She sees a bowl of cereal in the sink, milk on the counter and a couple of cereal bits littered on the ground. Obviously, Penny ate first, but there was no sign of the girl anywhere. Before she can panic any further (well anymore than she already does), she hears the backdoor by the laundry room open and see Penny striding in with a bright smile on her face (that Tobin feels a little bad that she’s about to pop it), a bouquet of flowers that Tobin has no idea how she got those since they have no sunflowers in their front yard (or any flowers for that matter).

 

“Audric Penelope!” Tobin’s voice was raised but even.

 

Penny drops the flower in fright at hearing Tobin’s mom voice that she rarely uses (only in special occasions), frozen in sight. Penny quickly picks up the bouquet and hides it behind her.

 

“Where have you been?” Tobin questions. She still hasn’t raised her voice, trying to reign in her anger that resulted from the worry.

 

“Out,” Penny says. “I put a note in the fridge!”

 

“She put a note on the fridge,” Tobin mutters, her voice takes on it’s hysterical note, scaring Penny a bit. Tobin looks over her shoulder and indeed there was a note on the fridge made out of the colorful alphabet magnets that simply said _OUT._ “A note on the fridge doesn’t means you're allowed to wander outside by yourself, Audric Penelope!”

 

“It was important!” Penny yells, tears forming at the corner of her eyes. She hates being yelled at.

 

“I don’t care if it was important! You’re six!” Tobin screams back. “You could’ve gotten hurt or kidnapped or maimed! Or gotten hit by a car!”

 

“But I didn’t!”

 

“You could have!” Tobin screams. She sighs running her hand through her hair in frustration. She knew Penny was independent and most of the time she encourages this independence, but she should’ve known it would come to this. She steels herself, clenching her jaw as she says, “I’m sorry Penny, but we can’t go out today, you’re grounded-”

 

“NO!”

 

The ear-splitting, heartbreaking, high-pitched scream of anguish that Tobin triggered threw her off-guard, her eyes widening in confusion as the tears that Penny seemed to be holding in run in rivulets down her face.

 

“NO!” Penny screams again.

 

“Yes,” Tobin says, remaining calm, but thoroughly confused at Penny’s reaction.

 

“Mommy please!” Penny pleads, still crying, holding the bouquet of flowers tighter in her hand. “We gotta go to Olive Garden!”

 

“Olive Garden? We were going to Chuck E. Cheese,” Tobin says, puzzled.

 

Penny ignores this and continues to cry, pleading with Tobin. Penny worked herself up so much that her breath starts to come in shallow gasps as she continues to say, “Please, please, please.”

 

Worried, Tobin crouches in front of her, rubbing her back trying to calm her down. Penny was a great actress. A feat she managed to have perfected in order to get whatever she wants from her aunts and uncles and of course Tobin. But this wasn’t acting.

 

“Shhh,” Tobin soothes, trying to calm her down. “Shh….it’s alright Penny.”

 

“ _Pleasepleaseplease,”_ Penny continues to utter, her eyes were glazed over with tears, no longer falling, but threatening to.

 

“We can go to Olive Garden next week when you’re not grounded,” Tobin compromises as she continues to rub her back. She was unsure as to where this obsession from Olive Garden came from (Penny hates pasta; the only exception: mac and cheese).

 

“NO!” Penny shrieks throwing the sunflowers on the ground.

 

“Audric Penelope,” Tobin warns.

 

“We gotta go Mommy!’ Penny shrieks, the tears seeming to start back up again. “Please!”

 

“Okay, okay,” Tobin says, unsure of how to calm her down. “Okay, okay. We’ll go to Olive Garden today, okay?”

 

“Okay,” Penny hiccoughs, her little chest still heaving from her unexpected tantrum.

 

“No more tears?” Tobin continues to rub her back

 

“No more tears,” Penny promises, as she tries to stop her tears but instead ended up blubbering.

-

-

-

Christen holds a mylar balloon in one hand and a wrapped package in the other as she goes into Olive Garden, bypassing the host’s podium when she sees a familiar beanie in one of the booths. She walks towards them and was about to greet the people in the booth. Her greet dies at her lips when she realized it wasn’t who she thought it was.

 

“Christen?”

 

Christen turns around to see Penny and Tobin being lead by a host to a different booth, right across from the people she mistook for them. Tobin was holding a bouquet of sunflowers in one hand and Penny in the other.

 

Tobin raises an eyebrow at the mylar balloon and the present in her hands. “Here for a party?”

 

Christen looks at her, confused at her words. “Uh, isn’t it Penny’s birthday?”

 

“No,” Tobin says, looking down at the little girl who looked at her innocently, eyes shining bright (though still a little red-rimmed from her earlier tantrum). She feels like she’s in one of those montages in movies where the protagonist finally figures everything out and everything starts fitting together. She can literally feel the puzzle pieces in her head slotting together. Penny's earlier reaction when she got grounded, the fact that she was carrying sunflowers (that Tobin still has no idea where she got it from), her "favor" of dressing Tobin today (Tobin has to admit, she looks good with the simple white v-neck, her favorite leather jacket, and jeans), and her insistence at having Tobin hold the sunflower bouquet. Everything made sense now.

 

_Fuck me. Did I just get set up?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading guys! I hope you enjoyed it! Send me your thoughts!


	7. signs of things to come

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all of the kudos and comments. I read each and every single one of those comments and though I can't reply. I try to address whatever you wrote in the next chapter. 
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy this chapter.

Tobin and Christen walk side-by-side, their arms brushing against each other. Penny was ahead, skipping, the “gift” was still in her arms, swinging it around. She flits between the ground and the planters lining the boardwalk, jumping up and down with boundless energy. They let her hold it but at the end of this little pseudo-date, Tobin is going to have to confiscate it. 

 

“I’m really sorry about this, Chris,” Tobin apologizes, abashed, her hands in her pockets and her shoulders hunched as she turns slightly to Christen.

 

Tobin runs her fingers through her hair, frustrated. They had to sit at the weird pseudo date that was moderated by a six-year-old. Tobin swears that Penny had a flashcard of never-ending topics. At one point she even said, “How about that economy, huh?” much to Christen and Tobin’s amusement.

 

Christen shrugs. “It’s fine. I mean it was cool to get to hang out with you guys.”

 

“Huh,” Tobin says as she thinks about it. They really haven’t hung out just by themselves without either Kelley or Mal around nor has she initiated any contact with Christen. 

 

Christen shrugs again as she mumbles. “It’s okay. I know you hate me and-”

 

“Woah, woah, where did you get that I hate you?” Her words come out rushed and confused. 

 

Christen stops and turns to Tobin, giving a wry chuckle. “You don’t have to say the words, Tobin,” she says. “We didn’t really exactly end on amicable terms and you’re comfortable around me. I think- no- I know that if Penny wasn’t here we wouldn’t even be talking.”

 

Tobin opens her mouth to tell her that she was wrong, but as she thinks about it. The more she realizes that it is true. If not for Penny’s obsession with her love life and her Christen Press adoration, Tobin would never go out of her way to see Christen. If anything, she would go out of her way to not see her. 

 

Before she can reply to Christen, Penny had run over and was now bouncing in front of her, hands underneath her chin as she looks imploringly up at Tobin. 

 

“Please, mommy?” 

 

“Sorry, bud, I was lost for a second,” Tobin says. “What did you ask?”

 

“Can we go to the beach?” Penny asks as she continues to rock on her toes. “Please, mommy?”

 

“Yeah, sure we can,” Tobin says already toeing off her shoes. She turns to Christen, who was already preparing to walk home alone. “Want to come with us, Christen?”

 

Christen looks surprised for a second but agrees. She takes her shoes off as well, glad that she decided on some simple open-toed sandals that she could easily take off. 

 

Penny cheers as she runs ahead of them, dropping the gift bag in the sand as she charges towards the water. Penny runs along the shore, not wanting to get wet but wanting to feel the water between her toes. Tobin runs after her to pick up the gift before it becomes fish food.

 

“Every time I hang out with Penny we always end up at the beach,” Christen comments when Tobin comes back to her. 

 

“Yeah,” Tobin shrugs. “I swear if Penny could she would live in the ocean.”

 

“Is her favorite Disney princess the Little Mermaid then?” Christen asks. 

 

Tobin can see she was genuinely curious. She shouldn’t be surprised though. Penny was like a little parasite, burrowing deep underneath your heart, making herself comfortable, and filling that little space. It just amazes Tobin how quick she can wrap anyone around her finger.

 

“No,” Tobin says as she looks up to see Penny walking up to them, shivering, her lower half dripping wet. “Penny, why did you go in? You don’t have your wetsuit.”

 

“The ocean was just inviting me in,” Penny argues as she sits between the two. She snuggles up against Tobin.

 

Tobin didn’t look unfazed by the water that was currently seeping into her clothes. “Hey, Pen, Christen wants to know why Moana is your favorite.”

 

As if that question triggered something in her, Penny stood up fist against her heart as she belts out, “ _ See that line where the sky meets the sea? It calls me!”  _ She runs towards the water again, singing out the lyrics as she lets the water lap at her legs. They can hear her sing out the song as she keeps moving towards the ocean.

 

“Ah, Moana because she wants to be in the water,” Christen says, the realization settling in.  

 

Tobin nods. “Yep and ever since she was little she never wants to be away from it.”

 

They watch her for a moment, the embodiment of innocence and childlike wonder after the world decked her and bounced back as if nothing had happened. At times, it worries Tobin that the car accident never affected Penny, but most of the time she thanks Him that Penny was spared with not remembering anything from the crash. 

 

She was pulled out of her thoughts when she hears Christen laugh at the sight in front of her. Penny, in her jeans and sweater, was now soaking wet, down to the bone. Penny didn’t seem to mind as she continued to play around in the water, going deeper than she usually does.  The muscle around her lips seems to remember Christen’s laugh as they were pulled up as if it was a reminder of how heart used to be. 

 

“I don’t hate you,” Tobin murmurs as she plays with the sand beneath their feet. She grabs a handful, squeezing it, manipulating it. The ministrations leaving her a little less nervous.

 

“I don’t blame you, if you do,” Christen admits, shamefully. The way she had left still left a Tobin-sized guilt in her heart. She continues to look forward, towards the horizon, refusing to meet Tobin’s eyes. 

 

Tobin reaches over and squeezes her hand, trying to get her attention. It worked and Christen hesitantly turned to her, waiting. “Stop that, Chris,” Tobin orders gently. “At this point, it’s water under the bridge.” Tobin wags her finger at her with a smile on her face to show that she was joking. “Okay?”

 

Christen takes a deep breath and nods. “Okay.”

 

Tobin smiles, the wrinkles around her eyes appearing. An indication to Christen that it was her smile was genuine. “Good.” She looks over to where Penny was, her hand going up to her face as she groans. “I swear every time we go to the beach to the look, Penny goes in without reservation.”

 

Christen laughs at her predicament. “Good luck with that.”

 

Tobin salutes her before she runs to where Penny was, scooping up the little girl with no qualms at the cold water currently drenching the front of her shirt. Christen can hear Penny’s giggles as they walk towards her. 

 

“Alright, I caught a fish,” Tobin says as she stands in front of Christen. 

 

“I’m no fish!” Penny protests, glaring at Tobin, offended. 

 

“My bad,” Tobin says. “I caught a kelp.”

 

Penny gasps as Christen laughs at their antics. “That’s even worse! At least make me a shark!”

 

“Apologies, Penstar,” Tobin says, tickling her. “I caught a blabbermouth!”

 

“That is it!” Penny says as she kicks against Tobin. “How dare you!” Tobin puts her down so that she can rise on her tiptoes like she usually does to argue against Tobin. “I am a majestic shark!”

 

“Yeah Tobin, she’s a majestic shark,” Christen chimes in. “How blind can you be?”

 

“Well she does need glasses,” Penny says. She holds up three fingers right underneath Tobin’s nose, shoving it at her. “How many fingers am I holding up, mommy?” 

 

Tobin laughs, pushing her hand away. “Alright, you two, c’mon, let’s go home.”

 

Penny pouts and turns to Christen. “But I don’t want Christen to leave yet.”

 

“Oh no, you don’t.” Tobin shakes her head no. “You are grounded for a week for pulling that stunt you did this morning.”

 

Penny groans, her head hanging low, slightly stomping in the sand. She knew she had no right to protest, but she did anyway. “But mooom.”

 

Christen’s eyebrows rise at Tobin’s display of discipline in front of her. Something she thought she would never see in the days that they were together. She has to admit, it was a good reminder that this wasn’t the same Tobin that she had a relationship with. 

 

“No buts,” Tobin says, her voice was firm and very mom-like (still so weird to Christen). “Now say goodbye to Christen.”

 

Penny turns to her with the most crestfallen face that she can muster, big watery eyes, trembling lips and slow limbs that wrap around her waist. Penny was careful to keep her lower half away from Christen so she doesn’t get her wet. “Bye, Christen Press.”

 

Christen wraps her arms around Tobin, looking up at Tobin with wide, panicked eyes. 

 

“Stay strong, Chris,” Tobin says, putting a hand on her shoulder. “She knows what she’s doing.”

 

“But,” Christen mumbles as she rubs Penny’s back.

 

“She knows what she did,” Tobin whispers to her. Tobin taps her on the back. “C’mon, we still gotta walk her to her car.”

 

“Okay,” Penny mumbles as she pulls away from Christen. She goes to Tobin’s side and reaches up to take her hand and waits for Christen. When Christen stands next to them, she grabs her hand as well, linking them all together. 

 

Penny looks at their clasped hands even if she ended up grounded today, watching them talk from the ocean, it was definitely worth it. 

 

 

Tobin opens the door for Christen when she hears her unlock it. When Christen slides in, she leans against the open door, putting her arm on the roof of the car and taps against it. Penny waits beside her, pouting after they’ve taken her present, arms crossed over her chest.

 

~o~

 

Christen looks up at her, watching her tapping a beat against the roof of her car. “Hey, Tobin.”

 

“Hmm?” 

 

Christen smiles at her, trying to show that it was as genuine as possible.”I had fun tonight.”

 

Penny’s frown turns into a smile at Christen’s words.  _ Success. _

 

“Same here,” Her mother says. “Friends?”

 

Penny’s frown returns. 

 

“Friends,” Christen says, shaking Tobin’s extended hand. Tobin steps away from the car so that Christen leans forward so that she can crane her neck around her car to see Penny. “Bye, Penny.”

 

“Bye!” Penny says, waving at her before she steps back from the car and stands next to Christen. 

 

Christen closes her door and reverses out of the parking spot. She waves at the duo from her car. The heaviness that was at the pit of her stomach was gone at the start of the day was gone, now replaced with a new feeling that she hadn’t felt in awhile.

 

~o~

 

Penny sighs loudly as she dramatically flops herself down on the rug in front of Tobin. Her arms were over her eyes. She waits for a reaction, but all she hears is silence and the scratching of her mother’s pen against paper. 

 

She sits up and looks at her unaffected mom with annoyance. Tobin still hasn’t even looked up, pretending to not notice the moping six-year-old. She climbs up on the couch and grabs her mom’s arm, shaking it. 

 

“Please, mommy, please!” Penny begs, her eyes looking straight into her eyes, knowing Tobin can never resist. 

 

“You’re grounded, Pen,” Tobin reminds her, raising an eyebrow at her. 

 

Penny sighs as she flops next to her mother. “But I’m _ sooo _ bored.”

 

“So am I,” Tobin mutters as she flips to the next page of her book.  

 

Penny’s grounding was the first big punishment for the both of them. Usually, it’s go-to-your-room or time-outs, never groundings. The past week all they did was to head to work or school and head back home. 

 

No park, no beach, no surfing, no hiking, or biking.

 

No movies, tv shows, or video games.

 

And they were bored.

 

Tobin didn’t think grounding the kids would be this painfully boring for the parents. 

 

So bored, in fact, that both of them have been trying to finish countless of books. This is their fifth restart. Penny was trying to finish some kind of Peppa Pig book that was now just on the floor, open to the last page that she was trying to read and Tobin was trying to finish Neil deGrasse Tyson’s book (that she gave up on because even though the concepts were simplified. She was still lost by the 3rd chapter). 

 

Penny cranes her neck to look up at Tobin. “Am I still grounded?”

 

“I’m pretty sure you are,” Tobin says, nodding her head. She doesn’t exactly remember how long her grounding was supposed to be. She’s pretty sure it was a week, but at this point, she could be wrong. 

 

“Fuck,” Penny mutters as she looks down, the frown still on her lips. 

 

It was a little eye-popping to hear a six-year-old curse that Tobin drops her pen on the ground. Especially since there was a familiarity with the way she said it, indicating this was definitely not the first time she had said it in the heat of the moment. 

 

“Who taught you that?” Tobin asks, trying to keep herself from laughing. It was a little eye-popping, but it was also freaking hilarious to her.

 

“Uh…” Penny looks sheepish, knowing that the word she had heard her Aunt Kelley (and occasionally her mother and Christen) use countless of time before was an adult word that she can only use when her Aunt Kelley was around. She shrugs, giving her mom an innocent look. “My imagination?”

 

“Nice try,” Tobin says, patting her on the head like a dog. “We need to talk to your Aunt Kelley.” 

 

“Mommy?” Penny asks as she lays her head on Tobin’s thigh. She looks up at Tobin, her green eyes watching her face carefully. 

 

“What’s up?” Tobin asks as she marks the page on her journal and puts it away to give Penny her undivided attention. She runs her fingers through her red hair, the soothing motions relaxing both of them. 

 

“Did you like your date with Christen?” Penny asks, curiously. 

 

“Penny,” Tobin begins, her voice already taking on that lecturing tone that had Penny rolling over and burying her face in the pillow, groaning. “No, stop that,” Tobin says as she grabs her by the shoulder to turn her over. “We need to talk about that.”

 

Penny sits up on her heels, using both of her hands to push her long hair back from her face. “Didn’t you have fun?”

 

“I did,” Tobin confirms as she tucks her hair behind her ears. “It was really fun. Christen and I had fun with you.”

 

“Really?” Penny’s face lights up at her words, her green eyes livening up. “She had fun?”

 

“She did,” Tobin confirms. 

 

The next words out of her mother’s mouth make Penny slump against the couch again. 

 

“But Penny, you cannot manipulate people like that,” Tobin says. “You cannot lie to someone just to get what you want.”

 

“Even if it was for good?” Penny asks. 

 

Tobin nods, confirming it. “Even if it was for good.”

 

“Okay,” Penny mumbles as she fingers the bow on her shirt. She hates being admonished. 

 

“No more lying?” Tobin asks her, holding out her pinky. 

 

“No more lying,” Penny confirms, hooking her pinky’s with her mom’s. 

 

“And Penny I need you to drop this mission of yours to get me a girlfriend,” Tobin says, keeping her voice firm, just like Cheney taught her to. 

 

“But mommy!”

 

“No buts, Pen,” Tobin says, careful not to let her voice waver. “No more trying to set Christen and me up on dates. Okay?”

 

“But you guys had fun!” Penny objects. 

 

“It’s not whether or not we had fun, but you didn’t really give us a choice,” Tobin says. 

 

“But you needed the help!” Penny says, her voice rising in frustration. Tears rise to her eyes as she tries to put it into words (and the prospect of getting in trouble again was scaring her again). “I don’t like that you’re lonely, mommy.”

 

Tobin smiles. Penny truly has a big heart, just like her parents. She couldn’t really blame her. “Penny, I appreciate that you worry about me, but I am fine. I’m not lonely. I need you to worry about things that you should be worrying about. Like doing well in school, making friends. Things kids worry about, okay?”

 

Penny nods, her hands curl into fists and she presses it against her eyes. “Okay, mommy.” She hurls herself into Tobin’s arms, wrapping her arms around her neck and waist. “I’m sorry!”

 

“No need to be sorry,” Tobin says as she rubs her back in comfort. “Now, you wanna go to the park?”

 

Penny pulls herself from Tobin, sitting on Tobin’s knees. “I thought I was grounded?”

 

“Well, I think you’ve learned your lesson right?”

 

Penny nods, eagerly as she realizes that she can be sprung early from her grounding. “Yeah, no more lying and no going outside without you.”

 

“Then I don’t see why we can’t go to the park,” Tobin says, nodding her head as she tries to give Penny a warm smile. 

 

“Can we go the mall instead?” Penny asks. 

 

“Sure,” Tobin says, confused at the uncharacteristic request.

 

Tobin wasn’t really the shopping kind-of-girl and she passed that trait down to Penny. They loathe the back to school shopping that they have to do each year as Tobin swears Penny outgrows her stuff so fast by the end of the year that by the new school year, a new wardrobe is needed. That day is usually filled with arguing, grumpiness, frustration, and the constant feeling to Tobin that she’s turning into one of  _ those  _ mothers. Needless to say, that day is usually traumatic for them. 

 

~o~

 

The request baffles Tobin until they actually got to the mall and the first thing Penny drag Penny to the pet store. 

 

“Mommy, the kitties,” Penny says as she presses her face against the glass, a finger tapping on the glass to get their attention. “Meow!”

 

Tobin cringes as she watches Penny fall in love with the kittens. This was all Becky’s influence and she knows it.

 

Penny turns back to her mom. “Can we go inside mommy? I wanna pet the kitties.”

 

Tobin was hesitant. She knows that this night will end up with them having another living creature in the house. She just hopes it’s not a cat. But with the way Penny was cooing and squealing over the gray kittens, yeah it’ll be definitely a battle. 

 

Penny didn’t even wait for Tobin to answer and just goes in the store, booking it to the kittens in the middle of the store. She stands on her tiptoes as she strains to reach in so that she can pet the cats. 

 

“Mommy, help!” Penny groans as she continues to strain.

 

Tobin laughs underneath her breath and gives her a little boost as Penny starts to coo at the kittens. Penny sticks her finger near one of their noses, hoping that one would be friendly enough. 

 

Tobin takes this opportunity to look around the small store. The front of the shop was where the pet essentials and items were kept while the back and sides of the store were devoted to different domestic animals. Surprisingly, the store was sparse, other than her and Penny there were three other people in the store, not including the workers. 

 

A couple that was enamored by a puppy that was twirling around in its small cage and a woman by the fish section who was looking at all the aquariums as well as the various items. 

 

Tobin’s eyes narrow at the woman, the hair seemingly an all too familiar sight but before she can try to scrutinize if it’s her or not, Penny kicks against her shin, yelping. Tobin immediately pulls her back and puts her down.

 

“What happened?” Tobin asks. She spreads out each of her fingers, checking for any small bite marks or punctured skin. “Did the cat bite you?”

 

Penny shakes her head. “No! Frosch was very good, mommy.”

 

Tobin’s eyes widen as she looks at the cat and she looks at Penny’s innocent face, a sliver of dread seeping into her expression. “Frosch?”

 

Penny nods, pointing at the lilac British shorthair. “Frosch.” She pushes herself up on her toes, bouncing. “Isn’t she cute?”

 

“Uh,” Tobin says, cursing Becky and Zola in her head for making Penny fall in love with cats the last time they had her over. She gives Penny a tight smile. “Penny, you see-”

 

Penny’s eyes light up again as she cranes her neck around Tobin. “Christen!”

 

Tobin looks over her shoulder to see Christen standing behind her, beautiful as always, her hair in her natural curls and the twinkle in her eye was ever present. She was carrying a small bag with the shop’s logo emblazoned on the front of the bag, confirming to Tobin that the woman she spotted earlier was Christen.

 

“Chris, hey,” Tobin greets, pleasantly surprised and relieved. She knows now that Christen was here, Penny’s focus would shift to her instead and not to  _Frosch._

 

“Hey Penny, hey Tobin,” she greets, giving them a small wave.

 

Penny tugs at the plastic bag, trying to peek in the bag. Tobin grabs her by the hood of her sweater and tugs her back. “Is that for Sir Buttersworth?” Penny asks, unfazed by the way Tobin jerks her back.

 

“Yeah,” Christen says, surprised that the little girl actually remembered. “I’m adding this to his tank.”

 

“You still have Seagull?” Tobin asks, amazed. “I thought she would’ve died by now.”

 

Christen rolls her eyes. “Tobin, we discussed this many times. She was a he and his name is Sir Buttersworth.” 

 

“No, I distinctly remember the carnie saying that he was a she,” Tobin says, a teasing smile in her tones and at the edges of her lips. 

 

Penny gasps. “Mommy! You know Sir Buttersworth?”

 

“Know her? I was the one that trained Seagull,” Tobin says, smiling at the memory of it all. It was the result of boredom and having too much time in her hands while recovering from surgery.

 

“But why do you call him Seagull, mommy?” Penny asks. 

 

Christen’s eyes widen as she mouths to Tobin,  _ Don’t you dare. _

 

As if the realization hit her in the face, Penny takes a step back and glares up at Tobin, tears at the corner of her eyes. “You named him Seagull because he’s a fish and seagulls eat fish!”

 

Tobin opens her mouth to refute Penny’s claim but quickly closes her mouth as she realizes there’s no point in arguing with her. She wasn’t wrong. 

 

“You didn’t deny it!” Penny shrieks horrified. She stares up at Christen, unsure how to proceed with this new information. Her green eyes were begging her to help her understand.

 

“Uh,” Christen says, panicked. She looks at Tobin with wide eyes. She can see a big sign in her head flashing  _ ABORT! ABORT! ABORT!  _ But Christen opens her mouth, words spilling from her lips about the circle of life and as much as she wants to eat them back up she couldn’t, continuing with the impromptu lecture. 

 

All the while, Tobin stands behind Penny, snickering. 

-

-

-

 

“I cannot believe you gave her a lecture on the circle of life,” Tobin says, still snickering to herself as she remembers the utter panic painted on Christen’s face. 

 

“You didn’t even help at all!” Christen hisses, trying to tame her voice down, though Tobin can feel the anger in them. “You left me to  _ drown.” _

 

“You were fine, Chris.”

 

“I scarred her,” Christen mutters more to herself than to Tobin. 

 

“She’s fine,” Tobin soothes as they watch Penny lie on her belly on the edge of the fountain, her fingers dipped in the water. “It’s more like you scarred yourself.” 

 

“It’s not funny, Tobin,” Christen says. 

 

“If it makes you feel better,” Tobin begins. “I’ll send you the therapy bill.”

 

Christen reaches over and slaps her on her arm. “Stop teasing me.”

 

“I’m done,” Tobin says. She leans back in her chair, allowing her legs to spread open. “I still can’t believe you still have Seagull. He must be ancient now.”

 

“Oh believe it,” Christen says. Then adds as an afterthought, “I think he’s about to die though.”

 

“What?” Tobin asks, sitting up, her words piquing her attention. “What do you mean?”

 

Christen feels a lump in her throat start forming as she explains to the Tobin Buttersworth lack of appetite and the fact that he keeps trying to go to the filter as if to kamikaze himself. So much so that she added a net.

 

“Oh, Chris,” Tobin says as she reaches over and squeezes her hand. “He’s had a good life, you know.”

 

Christen smiles. “Yeah, 6 years.”

 

Tobin smiles back tightly, the creeping realization that the last remnant of their past relationship was about to literally die hurt her deeply in her chest. “6 years,” she whispers back, the memories of their time together replaying slowly in her head like those old black and white movies complete with grainy footage and the sound of film in the background. She would’ve expected them to be in color and with sound. 

 

“Hey, you wanna go see Sir Buttersworth before he passes?” Christen offers. “I mean you did win him for me at that carnival.”

 

Tobin nods her head, slightly in disbelief that out of all the things that can reunite them (other than a meddling six-year-old with the best intentions) was a dying goldfish that they managed to raise themselves, until their untimely divorce. Even though this whole situation was weird and strange (even for Tobin), she couldn’t help the symbolism of it all with how the literal embodiment of their old relationship was literally dying in a tank.  

 

Maybe this was a sign of things to come as unusual as it may be. 

 

Or maybe Tobin was just reading into things too much, the unfortunate side effect of cabin fever and being grounded with her kid, but the blooming feeling in her chest would like to think she’s not.

 

Tobin nods, giving Christen that famous Heath smile that she knows Christen loves. “I’d like that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


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